


a home that is warm

by redsparv



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cottagecore, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort but mostly comfort, M/M, alternative universe, and lots of feelings, and lots of rain, and magic, spoilers for the manga!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26345740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redsparv/pseuds/redsparv
Summary: Kageyama has searched the warmth of sunlight for a long time now, looking for a way to rid himself of a curse that haunts him. On his journey he finds himself charmed by a gardener who changes his perspective, revealing to him a magic he had forgotten existed.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 15
Kudos: 33





	1. Whispers

**Author's Note:**

> I love cottagecore... I love KageHina...  
> There will be some art sprinkled in here and there in this fic, I hope it isn't distracting! I'm an artist first and a writer second, after all...!
> 
> I recommend listening to something like this while reading! I listened to it while editing this fic, and I found it quite fitting!  
> https://youtu.be/mkgylOJSdhE

◊◊◊

_Hinata wasn’t sure if it was the chill against his cheek, or the feeling the gentle wind carried, but something in the air was… different. And the change of atmosphere was nothing but exciting._

_It felt almost like static ghosting over his skin, but gentler, somehow quieter, if that made sense. The feeling was familiar, yet somewhat like a stranger to him. Something he wished to know more of._

_Behind him the sun shone its last rays of warmth of the day onto his sun-kissed skin. But Hinata paid no mind to that at all, because in the faraway sky he could see dark, heavy clouds slowly rolling towards him along with the night. He couldn’t help how his heart quickened its pace at the sight - he couldn’t remember seeing rain in years now._

_The sun slipped away behind him, and a shiver rolled up Hinata’s spine at the loss of it. Well, he thought, maybe tomorrow hold this dawning excitement._

_He could only wait and see._

◊ ◊ ◊

The muddy road had since a long time ago faded Kageyama’s boots into a hue far from its original color. He lowered his umbrella and shook the excess water off of it, creating a little storm of water-drops, before holding it neatly above his head once more, shielding himself from getting any more soaked. Pearly raindrops slid smoothly off his black coat, as if it lacked any sort of texture at all despite being made from finely woven cotton, but the cuffs of his pants were dark and wet from being outside in the rain for a long time. 

He faced a crossroad, marked by a signpost with two old wooden arrows adorned with rusted lettering, one pointed towards a place called Elmfort, the other to Plumvale. Kageyama reached inside his coat and fished out a small trinket, silvery and polished. On its porcelain face sat many hands, pointing at different symbols and letters of which would look extraordinary to one not familiar with their meaning - but Kageyama knew exactly what he was looking at, as he had a hand in making it himself. The largest most bold hand pointed north - a simple compass amongst pointers with more magical and celestial interests. It was however the compass that Kageyama relied most on during his travels. 

The compass told him that Elmfort was north of where he stood, and Plumvale was east. That settled it. He placed the trinket back into his coat with care, and set off once more towards Plumvale. It suited him well, Plumvale seemed closer in proximity, and darkness had slowly begun to fall already. He needed someplace to sleep for he night - it didn’t matter much to Kageyama where he slept, as long as it was dry. He was used to the rain, more-so than most, but he didn’t very much enjoy it at all. 

The blue clouds had hung heavily over him for many many years now, wherever he walked, drumming soft melodies on top of his umbrella. Sometimes the rain was so heavy it splattered up from the ground, splashing the cuffs of his pants wet high up to his knees. Other times he barely felt it, unless he turned his face to she sky and let the water gently drizzle on his face, so faint it felt as if the small drops were scarcely there. But that didn’t change the fact that it _was_ there, at all times. 

The rain falling above him was the result of a most peculiar curse that hung over him.

Kageyama was a witch - a person bound with magic and sorcery. Magic takes so many forms, it’s hard to characterise what magic can or can’t be - but a witch had a natural gift for recognising and channeling magic in various ways. The magic honed by witches was used in everyday life vicariously, extending from everything between medicine, music, even martial arts. Of course, magic could be used for darker causes - of which Kageyama was unfortunately familiar with. 

It turns out that Plumvale was a rather quaint village, with roads made of cobblestone and little tufts of grass poking through the cracks between them, now pooling with rainwater. The puddles glimmered in warm colors from the light that shone through the windows of the little stores, lit despite it being early in the afternoon. Staff-members were hastily trying to carry their goods inside, though the rain seemed to already have gotten its fill of their products. Kageyama looked away from their distress. He had seen this many-a-times now, but it didn’t make it any less hard to watch. The distress was soaking up the place. He spotted an inn further up the road, and stopped briefly to check how many coins he had in his wallet. It gave a sad jangle as he pulled it out and weighed it in his palm - it was pretty much empty. He cursed under his breath - the odds of getting a good night’s rest seemed suddenly very small. 

Those still outside cast him curious looks - of course he would be noticed as a stranger in a village such as this, where everyone was bound to know one another. It made him self-conscious to have people’s eyes on him, so he hurried along. He hadn’t made a stop in a town for quite some time now… He often made stops along his travels to do simple work in exchange for coin - move boxes and wares, maybe move some hay, work of the sort. He once spent a whole week rolling yarn into neat bundles for some old lady. But he never stayed too long to become familiar, Kageyama made sure of that. He had to keep going, after all. 

The caw of crows caught his attention. The black birds played with one another on smaller road, hopping in puddles and chasing one another in a strange game of tag. The road seemed to be leading out from the heart of the village - it was likely he would find some farms out there, and possibly some barns or something of the like, that he could sleep in if the owners were charitable enough. He took to it immediately, new hope in his step. 

The woods surrounding him was calm and still, the oak trees stood tall above him and shielded him from most of the rain. The soaked spry leaves shone rather prettily in the rain. He could tell the road he walked wasn’t very well used, but there was little point in turning back now, as darkness had begun to fall for real. He crossed an old wooden bridge that hung over a stream of clear water far beneath, and jumped over gnarly roots that made the road uneven and wobbly. 

Soon the trees cleared and revealed a rather adorable cottage, made from clay and wooden beams, and warm light poured out from some of the windows. Kageyama thought himself spot a few smaller buildings further behind it, but it was quite hard to tell through the rain. Plants decorated the inside of the lit up windows, as well as the front-garden leading up to the nice-looking oak door. It was mostly filled with bushes just a few days from blooming into flowers, little white wind-flowers and little violets. It looked very charming, thought Kageyama, whose knowledge of flowers only extended as far as their magical use reached. 

Kageyama leant down a little to look at their colorful crowns. Something about them tickled Kageyama’s senses in ways he had learnt only magic could. It was a feeling familiar to him now, and it was lingering in the petals of the little flowers as they bowed neatly each time a drop fell onto one of their leaves. He inhaled the smell of them - he could almost taste the sweetness of violets on his tongue, and feel the whispers of witchcraft lingering against his lips. 

A swishy movement in the corner of his eye drew Kageyama's attention away from the flowerbeds. A curtain swayed suspiciously behind one of the windows, as if someone just walked by, or peeked behind it just a second ago. Kageyama frowned, embarrassed by the idea of being seen admiring flowers, but at least he could now be certain that someone was home. He stepped up to the wooden door and gave it a firm knock. 

Kageyama didn’t consider himself to be a man who knew his way with words too well - he had been told that he was blunt and not very polite, so he begun to rehearse what to tell this stranger. He just wanted a place to sleep for the night, it shouldn’t be hard to ask for, if the person behind the door wasn’t too frightening of a person. But he didn’t get far with his rehearsal - the light tapping of feet on wooden floor could faintly be heard over the sound of the rain. The door swung open and revealed a rather short man who Kageyama couldn’t describe as anything but warm, like a fireplace. His eyes were brown, shining curiously under his orange unruly fringe. 

”Yes?” the man asked, eyeing him up and down.

”Good evening… uhm, sorry to bother you at this hour.” He bowed only slightly to the stranger, his umbrella still held neatly over his head. ”I’m looking for a place to sleep, just for the night… I’ve got very few coins on me, but I could pay you what I have for the trouble…” The short man blinked at him, as if Kageyama was something extremely curious. 

”I haven’t seen you before… you’re not from here, are you?” His voice was clear and bright, and sounded somewhat amused. He studied him with great interest, everything from his dark fringe to his black coat seemed to be scanned thoroughly. 

”Yes, I come from far away…” he felt insecure being watched by those big brown eyes - was he being judged? Maybe he wouldn’t be deemed trustworthy by this stranger… He begun looking down at himself to see what the man was looking at. His shoes were awfully muddy, he noticed. 

”I see… what’s your name?” 

”K-Kageyama.” He quickly looked back up again. The man held a hand out, Kageyama took it and let the man give it a shake. The palm of his hand was warm and slightly rough to the touch, and left his skin feeling just as warm after letting go.

”My name’s Hinata Shouyou, it’s nice to meet you, Kageyama!” He gave Kageyama a wide, bright smile that somehow washed a lot of Kageyama’s worry away. So it was a nice person, after all. ”I’ve got a spare bed that you can sleep in for the night. But, please step inside, you must be soaked to the bones!” He stepped away from the door and left it open for Kageyama to step in. It was warm inside and had a pleasant homey smell, one that couldn’t be described with words. 

”My shoes are muddy…” he said in apology, but Hinata simply waved his words away. 

”I drag in loads of dirt all the time, don’t you worry about it! Man, this rainstorm came out of nowhere, I saw the clouds rolling in yesterday evening, but I was still so surprised to see the rain this morning!” Hinata eyed Kageyama’s coat dripping water onto the carpet as he shrugged it off his shoulders. ”It must have been horrible to walk in!”

”It’s not so bad…” Kageyama felt only slightly overwhelmed by Hinata’s storm of words - but he felt lucky that the person living here was friendly, as opposed to frightening and intimidating. ”This coat is waterproof, see. I’m all dry underneath, just cold.” He held it out to Hinata, who felt it with puzzlement on his face. It broke into excitement, as if Kageyama had just performed a trick. 

”Ooooh! Is it magic? Is there a spell on the coat? Are you a witch?” He was full of energy, his face was practically shining with curiosity and interest as he felt the coat between his fingers.

”I- uh, no! I mean, there’s a spell on the coat, yes! I am not a witch, though!” Kageyama cursed himself, feeling his face burn. He had whispered a spell into the coat himself, webbed it with little words of sorcery which let raindrops glide over the fine material. But he wasn’t about to tell Hinata that. He’d rather not have people know that he was a witch - though it probably was obvious as he walked from place to place, coming with rain and taking it with him as he departure. But it made things easier, to not have people know. People tended to be very curious about sorcery, despite it not being horribly uncommon, and Hinata seemed to be no exception to that. 

”Aw, that’s unfortunate, witches are so cool…” Hinata pouted slightly as he walked further inside the house. Kageyama followed him into what looked like a kitchen. ”Lucky you had that coat though - I’ve never seen it rain like this here, ever!”

”Never…?” he couldn’t quite hide the disbelief in his voice. Hinata didn’t seem to notice it though. 

”Never! I’ve never seen anything like it, that’s why I was surprised when I woke up this morning! It’s not bad though - it just meant I didn’t have to spend time watering the plants in my garden today, it’s more time-consuming than you’d think,” he said with a pleased melody to his voice. He was awfully happy about the rain, Kageyama thought. He wondered how long that would last, and couldn’t feel quite as joyous about the situation. ”Maybe you would like some tea? Or maybe coffee?”

”Tea sounds nice… Thank you…” He took a seat by a beautiful oak-wood table by the window. It was very homey here, a bit cluttered and untidy, but not uncomfortably so. A small bouquet of field flowers sat in a drinking glass on the table, lit by a candle, and the shelves on the walls were adorned with jars in many different colors. It looked like jam, herbs, and spices of various sorts. If Kageyama wasn’t mistaken, the papers littered over the table were letters, all of them addressed to Hinata Shouyou. Maybe he had many pen-pals, Kageyama mused. He definitely seemed the type to be able to get along with everyone. 

Suddenly a little creature jumped up on the table, opposite of where Kageyama sat. He tensed up in surprise, and blinked back at a large, black cat. Its green eyes were pale and piercing straight into what felt like Kageyama’s soul. He fidgeted with his hands nervously under its gaze.

”There you go,” Hinata placed a cup of tea next to him before walking around the table to sit down next to the cat with a cup of his own. He gave it a kind stroke over its ears - the cat didn’t move or react however, it was quite unsettling. ”Sorry if Juliette’s a bit moony, she’s kind of old and get’s a bit nervous with strangers.” He looked over at Kageyama, who now felt even more nervous by the extra pair of big round eyes watching him - one pair green, the other pair brown. 

”’s fine,” he mumbled, and blew the steam off his tea. It smelled delightful - summery and fruity. 

”So where are you from?” Hinata asked, the curiosity was still practically seeping from him. Kageyama couldn’t figure exactly what was so curious about him - he was plain-looking, with his pale face and flat hair. ”What sort of business do you have here in Plumvale - it’s hardly a place of great interest,” he chuckled the last part out, his voice reminded Kageyama of bells. 

”I come from far away, just passing through…” He took a sip from the tea. It _was_ fruity, incredibly so, and unexpectedly sweet. Hinata must have put a spoon of honey in it. There was something else about it that lingered on his tongue, much alike the flowerbed outside Hinata’s home. 

”I can tell,” Hinata chirped. ”No one looks so fancy, no one from these parts! I couldn’t help but notice the embroidery on your collar, it’s so pretty!” Kageyama touched his collar, he could feel the tightly sewn white thread, the shape of leaves under his fingertips - he was surprised Hinata had noticed it at all, as it blended in so well with the white fabric it was sown onto. Hinata himself wore a dress shirt, but one that was very different from Kageyama’s own. It was a washed out green color, and was clearly worn a lot. It made the man wearing it look very handsome however, despite its rugged look - or maybe because of it. 

”A man I worked for awhile back was a tailor, and his daughter was an embroider. I got the shirt from them.” Hinata rested his chin in his hand, his eyes looking over Kageyama’s collar. ”I travel from place to place… I meet a lot of people,” Kageyama explained. _Not that I get to know anyone,_ he added to himself _._

”An embroider… far from here?” He asked, eyes gleaming from the single candle on the table. They looked as if lit from within. 

”Far from here…” he echoed. Hinata looked at him expectantly, so he continued. ”In a town… I don’t remember the name. By the ocean.” Hinata visibly perked up by this. ”They lived only a short walk from the beach, uh, there was a harbour. Big ships.” He took another sip from his tea, which was cooling rather quickly.

”Ships… wow… you’ve seen a lot, I bet… I’ve never left Plumvale since I moved here. Before then I lived a few miles north, maybe you passed Elmfort on your way here?” Kageyama shook his head. ”I grew up there, with my family. A much bigger town than this - this is hardly a town, really, more like a village I guess” he laughed, tugging at his fringe in faint embarrassment. 

Kageyama contemplated this for a few brief seconds. Bigger towns usually had more easy work to find. He did need coin, but he wasn’t exactly interested in straying from his path east - he hadn’t strayed yet in the years he had been travelling. The prospect of a city wasn’t very attractive to him either, despite the increase in chance of work. He sighed. It wasn’t _that_ far north, maybe it was worth it. 

”Maybe I’ll go there tomorrow…” He felt Hinata’s eyes on him, so he elaborated, ”I need work, so I have money with me on the road…”

”Oh!” Hinata perked up again, significantly. ”You could work for me!” 

”Wha- oh… what do you do…” Kageyama felt dumbfounded - just how lucky was he to have found a place to sleep AND a place to work at once?

”I’m a gardener! I’ve got loads of work that needs to be done, I’ll have you know it’s really hard to take care of everything when you’re just one person! Not that I can’t handle it or anything, but having an extra pair of hands would make things way easier for me!” He leaned over the table a bit, his face became even more brightly lit by the candle-light. Kageyama noticed the many freckles across his face just then. ”It’s not complicated work, just the usual - weeds that needs to be picked, twigs and debris that needs to be moved, shovelling - I’ve got chickens that needs to be cared for too!” 

”I’m not very popular with animals…” Kageyama gave Juliette a wary glance, she was still staring at him from across the table. ”… but I think I would do okay with gardening…”

”How about it then, Kageyama?” He reached his hand across the table, offering a handshake. ”Two silver-coins a week? And you get to sleep here,” Hinata grinned.

Kageyama took his hand and shook it. ”Deal.” 

◊

After eating a massive meal (plated by Hinata, who seemed intent on making sure Kageyama ate half his weight in supper,) and falling asleep in a warm bed dressed in dry soft clothes, waking up was extremely pleasant. He stretched lazily under the soft linen, feeling unusually lucky. The bed on the other side of the room was empty - Hinata had already woken up and left. _As expected of a gardener_ , Kageyama thought, _to get up by daybreak_. Suddenly a large, black cloud seemingly materialised out of thin air right on top of him, landing heavily right on his chest. 

”Oof-” he grunted, staring right into the big green eyes of Hinata’s black cat, Juliette. She had spent the evening staring at him from afar, the end of her tail flicking apprehensively. Kageyama had ignored her then, but she was pretty hard to ignore when she was right in front of him and staring deeply into his soul. She sniffed him, her black nose twitching slightly. 

”Smell like magic, do I?” Kageyama mumbled. ”Don’t like that very much, huh…” she flicked her ears a little, before deciding to jump from his chest to the bedside table, and from there up to the windowsill. Kageyama stretched his legs one final time before sitting up. The windows were smeared with rainwater, Juliette was pawing at a particularly large drop of rain that trailed down the glass. 

He noticed a dress-shirt on the bedside table, messily folded, and next to it a plate of bread and a bottle of bright red jam. A warm tender feeling bloomed in his chest at the sight - Hinata must have put them there for him. What a kind man he thought, absentmindedly. The fabric of the shirt was coarser than his own clothes, but it still felt comfortable in his hands as he unfolded it. He happily put it on and ate the bread, and marvelled at how nicely the shirt fit his tall frame. It couldn’t have been one of Hinata’s shirts, that was for sure. 

When having walked downstairs into the kitchen, he found that Hinata was nowhere to be seen there either. It was quiet, spare for the rain hammering on the roof. It was a strong contrast to the evening before, with the clattering of plates and warm candlelight and the other man lively walking around the kitchen back and forth, crashing into Kageyama a few times who tried to help him out with cooking. It looked almost grey now, still and unmoving, in Hinata’s absence. 

A distant, distressed clucking could suddenly be heard outside, followed by an unhappy voice, unintelligible by the rain, but he recognized it as Hinata’s. He quickly dressed himself in his boots and his coat, and stepped out into the rain to investigate. 

Walking around the back, he found the source of the racket. A chicken coop stood sadly in the rain, the dirt extremely muddy and slippery around it. Hinata’s voice came from inside it. 

”I know, I know! If you’d just give me some space!” He spoke shrilly, followed by more displeased clucking. 

”Hinata?” Kageyama called through the door. A loud thunk shook the coop slightly, before the door opened slightly. Hinata peeked through. 

”Kageyama! Good morning!” He gave him a broad smile. ”Ah, I see you found the shirt! I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to ruin your own clothes. Come in, just watch out so the ladies don’t sneak out.” Kageyama slipped through the door, and stared at the brown hens looking at him and clucking anxiously. In the roof was a hole, where rain was steadily pouring through. The floor was wet, the hay completely soaked. ”I didn’t notice until this morning, my poor chickens,” Hinata chuckled, pointing at the roof. Kageyama noticed Hinata too was rather soaked, his unruly fringe laying damp against his forehead and his clothes darkened by the water. 

”I’ll help,” said Kageyama flatly. Hinata wiped his hair out of his eyes with the back of his hand. 

”Yeah? Fetch me some planks from the barn, right across from here. You won’t miss it!” 

They spent half an hour in the rain fixing the roof on the chicken coop, much to the hens dismay - though they seemed pleased as they closed the door behind them once finished, leaving them in peace. Juliette stared at them through the window the entire time from the comfort of the cottage, probably amused. When the two finally walked inside again, they were soaked to the bone. Well, maybe not Kageyama, but Hinata surely was. He spluttered as he wiped water off his face, and glared at Kageyama’s dry shirt as he took his coat off. 

”Unfair, Kageyama!” He lightly pushed Kageyama’s arm, teasing him. Kageyama tried very hard to not give in to a smug smile. 

He liked Hinata. He was strong and driven and attentive, and put a lot of care into what he was doing. He was also funny. And a bit annoying. But in an endearing way. He thought to himself that he would enjoy spending a few days here with him, before being off on his way once more. After all, he didn’t want to get too familiar. It was best, for one with a curse such as his, to simply move on away before his presence became a burden upon others. 

Still, he looked forward to being a guest in Hinata's warm home, for just a while. 


	2. Catching sun-rays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The artwork for this chapter is rather messily drawn, I hope you won't mind... there wont be artwork for each chapter sadly, mostly because I want to post the chapters as soon as possible, I'm so excited to share them (even if it's scary)!

◊◊◊

_Weeks had passed since the sun last shone in Plumvale. Rain poured steadily from the blue clouds above, light drops tinkling down, smattering the ground. Hinata had found that the soaked earth murmured slightly where he walked, as if a light stream of water flowed just underneath the grass._

_His visitor, Kageyama, had revealed himself to be a bit of a knucklehead. He had been almost enthralled by the tall man when he saw him the very first time through the curtains of his home, bowing down to the flowers in his garden as if to greet them. He looked so mysterious that Hinata thought him to be a witch the moment he saw him._

_Now, however, he was absolutely certain he couldn’t be, judging by his stubbornstupidity._

_”Stop frowning at me,” he told Kageyama, poking at the furrow between his eyebrows. Kageyama squawked at him, forehead smoothing out under his inky fringe._

_”Don’t poke me, dumbass!” He rubbed his brows angrily. Hinata just laughed._

_”I liked you a whole lot more when you were all shy and polite,” he said with the most sugary sweet voice he could muster, and quickly dodged a swat aimed at his head._

_”That was before I knew you were dumb!” Kageyama aimed another swat at him, half-heartedly this time, a mean smile flashed on his face. Hinata gasped comically._

_”You’re the last person who get to say that about me!” Though his words lacked fire, and he found that he couldn’t quite stop grinning. He couldn’t remember having this sort of banter with the friends he had back in Elmfort when he used to live there. He felt almost as though that the little empty space in his heart, that he was hardly aware of being there in the first place, was filling in bit by bit. Kageyama wore a faint, sweet smile on his face, but as always, his expression faded into a thoughtful, distant gaze as it left Hinata. Hinata often wondered what filled his mind in those moments._

◊◊◊

”Once I was done working for the tailor, I had to board a ship and go at sea for a while.” Kageyama cut carrots carefully as he spoke, making sure not to accidentally cut himself as well. Hinata on the other hand was barely looking at the onion he was chopping, he was too busy looking at Kageyama. ”It was a big boat, with white sails. It was creepy at night - they looked like ghosts, sort of.” Hinata made some sort of noise at this, which Kageyama ignored. ”Once it stormed, and-”

”Like today!” Hinata interrupted gleefully. Indeed, that day it did storm. The wind was raging and the rain was slamming hard against the windows to Hinata’s home. Hinata had been very excited about it - he said he never had seen a rainstorm before. Kageyama was just grateful to be inside, wrapped in warmth and the aromas of Hinata’s cooking. 

”Yes.” Kageyama glared at him for interrupting. Hinata quickly looked down at his onion, but was quick to toss Kageyama a glance, a silent request for him to continue. ”It was really scary. The boat swung a lot, up and down over the waves.” He made a wave motion with his arm, which Hinata followed, mesmerised. ”But we made it to shore safely. It was an interesting trip.” He put the chopped carrot in a pot, along with already cut potatoes and leek, soon to be simmered into an undoubtedly delicious meal. 

”So cool, Kageyama!” Hinata sounded very envious. ”Did you meet the captain? Were they cool? Did they have an eye patch? Wooden leg?” 

”They weren’t pirates, idiot.” Kageyama scoffed. ”They were cool, though. Very strong. The captain was really intense, but also really nice. He said there would be legends about him in the future, about the captain who sailed through every storm and braved the thunderbolts like it was nothing. I don’t know how much I believed him, but he made me want to believe it.” 

It had appeared that Hinata really liked to listen to Kageyama telling stories. Specifically stories about his travels so far. He hadn’t planned on staying long enough to be telling stories like this on the regular, but it turns out that unexpected things could happen, even in little villages like this. It was one of the few times Hinata was quiet, spare for the occasional interruption to ask a question or make some sort of comment. He wasn’t sure why Hinata thought it so interesting - Kageyama didn’t think himself to be a very good storyteller. Regardless, he couldn’t deny that it was nice to have Hinata on the tips of his toes like this, hanging onto his every word. He particularly liked to hear of stories that involved magic, but only slightly more than adventurous stories, like this one. 

”I’ve never seen the ocean before,” Hinata confessed and put the unevenly cut onions in a bowl. ”It’s really big, I know that much, but something tells me I don’t understand just _how_ large with just my imagination.” Kageyama nodded in agreement. 

”I was kind of impressed, the first time I saw it. It was just the sky and the water, and nothing else. It felt like they were equally as large.” He glanced at Hinata, who was just holding a celery in his hand and a knife in the other, the task at hand temporarily forgotten. 

”What did it feel like?” He asked, his voice unexpectedly gentle. Kageyama’s gaze drifted away, trying to recall the scene in front of him. He could almost see the calm, black ocean, splattered with drops of rain from the dark blue clouds hanging above, if he focused hard enough. The water foamed at the side of the boat, like a brush full of white creamy paint cutting through the rich color below. None of them knew what hid under the dark surface, nor did Kageyama know what hid above the thick wall of clouds above him. He had nearly forgotten how intensely he had felt in those moments.

”It felt like… like you were in the middle of something larger. Like you were passing through something amazing, that knew things you didn’t, or would ever know or understand. But for the short time I was there, I couldn’t help but cherish it, despite the scale of it all being so frightening. I think anyone would.” He looked back down at the carrot he was supposed to slice, and resumed. ”The ocean is older than anything else on this earth, that’s all I know. If it could speak, I’m sure it could tell the history of everything, with what it has seen.” 

He cut his carrot in silence after that. Thin, orange circles, evenly spaced throughout. Shortly after, the crisp chopping-sound of Hinata finally cutting his celery joined the noise of kageyama’s knife hitting the cutting board. No one said anything for a long time, until Hinata yelped after pricking himself on the knife. 

◊

Working in the garden with Hinata was really pleasant, Kageyama thought. It was a nice garden, with little paths of gravel hugging patches of foliage. Some patches were dedicated to flowers and herbs, some to vegetables, some to berries. Kageyama would’ve thought Hinata would plant everything in disarray, but apparently not. There was a lot of care put into this earth, no matter how you looked at it. 

He spent the first week picking weeds from the gravelled paths. It was easy work, really, it just took a lot of time, and was somewhat tedious. Kageyama didn’t mind much, though. It was rather nice, monotonously pulling the weeds out and tossing them in the basket he was given, as he could let his mind wander freely as he worked. 

Hinata worked hard around him, digging up large bushes that had taken over, or plowing lines in the wet dirt to plant new vegetables before it got too late in the year. He very quickly got very dirty, mud all over his hands and arms, even his face as he wiped his wet hair out of his eyes. 

It wasn’t a bad look on him, Kageyama thought. He was strong, much stronger than Kageyama. It became very clear not only by the hard labour he was putting in, but the wet clothes clinging to his body as well, revealing that he was much sturdier than you’d think at first glance. Kageyama wasn’t sure if he was jealous, as much as he found himself actually enjoying watching him. Somewhere in the back of his head he told himself he wasn’t going to lose to Hinata, and work hard too. 

When the rain wasn’t falling heavily over them, Hinata took Kageyama on slow walks around the garden to show and tell what all his plants were. Most of them he had seen before, but a few were entirely new to him. 

”You see those purple and pink ones? Butterflies love them, they’re brush carnations!” 

Kageyama bowed down to smell one of them, but found they didn’t smell very much. But the little he could smell was very pleasant. Behind them were large green leaves, growing on thick stalks. He hadn’t seen a flower so robust before. 

”What kind of flower is that?” he asked, straightening up again. 

”Those are my sunflowers!” Hinata lovingly touched the the large bud that crowned the top of it, still not in bloom. Kageyama froze. 

” _Sun_ flowers?! Are they magical?” He stared at the green, tall stalks in awe. He envisioned a flower blooming and shooting rays of light and colors everywhere. How had he never heard of such a flower before?! 

”Bwahahaha, of course not!” Hinata slapped him on the back in laughter. ”They just look like the sun, sort of!” He smiled, but suddenly got an odd look on his face and started rubbing his chin, thoughtfully. ”Though, now that I think of it… they don’t look all that similar… they’re mostly brown, and the sun is like, _bwaah_ ,” he posed, shielding his hands over his face as if he was being blinded. ”You haven’t seen one before?” 

”No, I never heard of them,” Kageyama confessed. Hinata smiled cheekily and crossed his arms. Kageyama frowned, ”What.” 

”I know something you don’t!” Hinata beamed at him. ”So I win!” 

”Hmm, so this makes 14 wins for me and 11 for you-”

”Kageyama! Don’t take this victory away from me like that!” 

Hinata tried during dinner that same day to draw a sunflower at Kageyama’s request, but to his disappointment it looked like a pretty generic flower. Round centre with a crown of petals around it, just like any other flower. Either it was just an ordinary flower who happened to have a name of interest to Kageyama, or Hinata was really bad at drawing. Though, Juliette could be at fault for thist - she was very curious about Hinata’s pen as he drew, and kept swatting at it with her clawed paw.

”Looks boring…” he said, judging the wobbly drawing. ”And what’s this spiral thing in the centre of it…”

”Don’t insult my artistic skills! You have to remember it’s a big flower, Kageyama!” Hinata poked him with his pen. ”They grow really tall, they’re totally impressive!” 

The idea of a sunflower did indeed seem impressive. Kageyama was naturally very drawn to the idea of the sun, after being haunted by grey and dull clouds for so long. But Kageyama had more reason to be interested than that - he believed sunlight would be able to rid his curse. Breaking curses as unusual as the one he himself carried wasn’t easy, as the answer to breaking them usually were even more-so unusual. He had gathered many ideas during his travels however, many farfetched and strange, but all seemed to circle back to sunlight, which often was depicted as the opposite to downpour. Maybe if he caught a sun-ray he could bend it into a spell, or if he caught up with the suns passage over the sky to beg the sun to chase the rainclouds away. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to catch a sun-ray, but having one shoot out of a flower did sound like a nice shortcut.

”That reminds me,” Kageyama recalled a question in that moment. ”I was wondering how anything grows in that garden at all?” 

”Wha-!” Hinata spluttered at him with an offended look on his face. ”What do you mean, I’m a _very_ capable gardener, and while I may not be an expert at many other things I-!” 

”What- no!” Kageyama shook his head. He thought quite the opposite - Hinata was a very skilled gardener. ”I was wondering because while on my way here, I didn’t see any other gardens or fields nearby as nice as yours. It seem so dry here, I mean, it looked like it when I was passing through the village… but your garden didn’t seem very pained…” 

”Oh… that’s actually really kind of you, Kageyama… I didn’t know you knew how to compliment people,” Hinata grinned devilishly, but his eyes gleamed with obvious pride. 

”Well, it’s the truth…” Kageyama glowered. He hadn’t intended it as a compliment, but he decided to let it appear so, this once. 

”Hmm… ok, I’ll show you sometime! Just because you were so kind to me, Nice-yama!” he promised, patting himself over the heart to show his truthfulness. ”Don’t tell anyone though, it’ll be a secret between you and me.” 

Juliette threw quite a nasty glare at the both of them, as if both to accuse Hinata of being a fool, and Kageyama of being untrustworthy. She promptly left them to their idiocy.

◊

Whenever they went out of the cottage together, Hinata insisted that Kageyama share his umbrella with him until he had gotten his hands on a coat or umbrella of his own. He kept going on about how jealous he was of Kageyama’s magical coat, that he wanted one just like it. Kageyama constantly had to remind him that one wont just fall into his lap, and that he should just get a regular coat, or get his hands on an umbrella. Still, Hinata seemed unwilling to budge. 

”Move the umbrella more this way, my arm is getting all wet!” 

Kageyama rolled his eyes, but complied. It was actually really nice to walk with someone next to him, if he was to be truthful with himself. He had held his umbrella out for many people on his travels, andhe didn’t at all mind removing the umbrella from himself completely for others for a short moment, to ease some of the distress. But having someone walk so close to him, actually walk together _with_ him under the umbrella, it felt different to him. Hinata felt pleasantly warm, pushed up against his arm in his attempts to avoid getting water on his sleeve. 

He secretly wished it would take awhile longer for Hinata to find an umbrella of his own. 

”I know we’re in a bit of a hurry before the store close, but I want to show you something first,” Hinata put his hand on his chest again, looking quite honorable, ”just like I promised. As long as you keep your promise not to tell anyone my secret.” 

”Oh, right… Why is it a secret, anyway?” Kageyama asked.

”I’ll tell you when we get there,” Hinata looked utterly satisfied, having drawn curiosity out of Kageyama. ”I think you might find it interesting, though!”

”Sure,” Kageyama scuffed his shoulder against Hinata’s, which drew a smile on Hinata’s lips - until he felt the rain on his head and quickly jumped back up next to Kageyama with a yelp. 

After walking for a minute or two, Hinata directed their steps off the road onto a small dirt-path that Kageyama hadn’t seen prior. It was rather narrow, but there was room for both of them to walk next to each other with ease. 

”That’s it, over there!” Hinata jogged ahead out from under the umbrella. The towering trees shielded them from most of the rain, so Kageyama folded his umbrella back together and jogged after him. 

Something that looked like a well made of stone appeared before them. It was overgrown with moss and looked really old, but rather quaint and very peculiar with its odd placement in the woods. Something about it was almost beckoning, asking to be found.

”This is my secret!” Hinata clapped the stone happily, as if it was an old friend. ”I don’t think anyone knows that it’s here, except for me and you. I come here often to get water for my plants, the animals and myself!” He grinned brightly at Kageyama, brimming with pride. ”I would’ve asked you to come with me before, but you’re always sleeping in, and there’s less reason to come here for water when it’s raining so much,” he said with a teasing tone in his voice. 

”You walk all this way for water?” Kageyama asked, impressed. He peeked down into the well - he couldn’t see how deep it was, but the water stood rather high in it. Probably because of all the recent rain. He could see a dark outline of himself reflected in the water, like a little Kageyama-shaped shadow. He noticed how round his head was, just then. 

”Yep! It’s not so bad, it’s nice to walk here in the morning. My grandpa told me about this well- He used to own the house, but he got too old to take care of it so, you know, I took over it. He told me to keep the well secret, that it has stayed within the family for many generations. So I’m actually doing something traitorous right now by showing you! But I trust you, so I think my grandpa won’t mind.” Hinata smiled absentmindedly, recalling his grandpa. A strange feeling creeped into Kageyama’s chest. Something about standing in this old forest, quiet and still, by this ancient well… and the mention of Hinata’s family… he felt as though he was haunted. Kageyama traced his fingers over the old stone. He could feel it in the tips of his fingers - it was definitely laced with an old sort of magic. A gentle, familiar feeling danced on his fingertips, whispering onto his skin ever so quietly, like voices from a different time. 

”This well is magical in some way. You can feel it if you touch it,” Kageyama said, rubbing his index finger and his thumb together. The magic almost tickled, lingering from his touch in an old, sad way. 

”Really?! You can?!” Hinata immediately put his palms onto the wet stones, rubbing them slightly. ”How do you feel it?”  
”I- you just do? It’s faint though.”

”No way…” Hinata squinted his eyes together in concentration, focusing hard on the wet mossy stone under his hands. 

”Don’t hurt yourself…” 

”I’m not! Shush!” Hinata held his hands up in front of him, studying them closely. ”Maybe my skin is too thick or something… lucky, Kageyama, I wished I could feel magic with my hands too,” he pouted. ”I didn’t know this well was magical… I would follow grandpa out here when I was visiting as a kid, and he told me stories… some were really scary, to keep me from wanting to climb it and falling in on accident…” Hinata shivered. Kageyama could only guess what those stories were, and he too felt uneasy. Hinata suddenly pressed close to him again, and his warm touch promptly chased Kageyama’s unease away. 

”Thank you for showing this place to me. I wont tell anyone about it.” Kageyama opened his umbrella and held it above them once more. 

Hinata gave him a really wide smile - seeing that big smile up close was almost blinding.”Really? I mean, that’s what I expect of you, since you promised, but that’s good!” 

”Don’t worry about it… So what were you going to buy in the store?” They begun walking out of the woods the way they came, leaving the well behind them. Kageyama wasn’t sure if he liked it or was afraid of it, but ancient magic usually worked that way - alluring and dangerous. 

”Ah, some honey for tea, we run out of it so quickly now that there’s two of us, and because I wanted to make bread I need flour for that. Oh, as well as gardening gloves for you! I noticed that your fingers got a bit roughed up from the gravel, but my gloves are too small for you.” 

”Oh…” Suddenly, Kageyama felt very warm. Maybe because Hinata was close next to him again, but he had a feeling that wasn’t the reason. He glanced at his hand gripping the umbrella. Hinata was right, the skin around his nails was irritated and red from digging around in the gravel to pull weeds. ”Thank you… but, you don’t need to.” 

”I know I don’t, but I want to anyway.” Hinata smiled up to him. ”I’m still gonna pay you, so consider it a bonus! I never wanted to do the weed-picking, it’s tedious work and also not quite as important as keeping the weeds away inside the actual garden you know, so I always put off on doing it - even if I know that they’ll come back _from_ the path… Which is why I appreciate having you here! Next you can help me with…”

Hinata trailed off on a long tangent about all the things Kageyama could help him with after that, (most included his height, which seemed to be another thing he was jealous of Kageyama for,) and Kageyama took the moment to think about the gloves about to be in his possession. He was used to receiving gifts - most of his possessions were in fact gifts from various people he had worked for in the past. But the prospect of having gardening gloves given to him by Hinata… he felt as though he’d need to put use to them. Which also meant that Hinata wanted him to continue to work with him, awhile longer. To be fair, that should be quite obvious, considering the massive rant Hinata was currently in the middle of. But he had already stayed much much longer than he had planned on staying. He glanced at Hinata, who was gesturing how Kageyama could fix the leak at the top of his shed by simply standing on the tips of his toes and pressing his finger into the hole in the roof and stay there. 

Well. At least a little while longer would probably be alright. Hinata wasn’t complaining about his still dampening sleeve anymore, but Kageyama moved his umbrella closer to the theatrical display next to him, now showcasing Hinata pretending to be Kageyama smacking down a wasp nest with his long arm. 

Yeah… he would allow himself to be a little selfish, just a little while longer. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter!<3  
> The next one will be in two or three days, I kind of want to make an art piece for it as it opens up in a very soft way~ I hope you'll find it worth the wait!!


	3. Gentle hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have caught myself a cold (quite ironic honestly, what kind of timing is this!) so I ended up not having the energy to draw something satisfactory as I had wished... but I hope you will enjoy this chapter anyway!

◊◊◊

_Hinata walked slowly, taking long and careful steps, trying his best to not make a sound. He bit his lip, trying to not let a single laugh escape him. There had been rain daily for way over a month now, and today was no exception. And it was perfect, for what Hinata was about to do. The drip-drop of rain onto the tall grass masked the rustle of his steps, as he stalked the unsuspecting Kageyama, sitting innocently on a rock peeking up in the meadow a short walk from Hinata’s cottage._

_There was no way he would pass on an opportunity like this._

_He snuck real close, hidden from Kageyama’s view behind his umbrella. Ha, Hinata thought, this was_ too _easy._

_”Hey!!” he yelled, jumping around the umbrella with his arms up over his head. Kageyama startled - but relaxed pretty much right away._

_”Oh, hi, I didn’t hear you coming,” he said with way too much calm for someone who was supposed to be spooked._

_”Awh, you’re no fun Kageyama, couldn’t you at least have_ some _terror in your voice when I’m yelling to scare you!”_

_”Oh… that wasn’t much louder than usual, though.”_

_Hinata clicked his tongue at him. In Kageyama’s lap were a bundle of field-flowers, and in his hands were what looked like an almost finished flower-crown. He spot buttercups, wild chervil and red pretty poppies, carefully woven together by Kageyama’s precise and gentle hands._

_”What are you making?” He asked, even if it was quite obvious._

_”Flower-crown…” Kageyama didn’t meet his gaze, but he knew by the tone of his voice and that pout of his lip that he was being shy. Hinata smiled, feeling a sense of immense satisfaction with this._

_”For me?” He squat down so Kageyama wouldn’t have a choice but to look at him._

_”Yeah…” his cheeks bloomed red when meeting Hinata’s gaze - oh, how he loved to see that. He braided the flowers together into a finished circle, and proceeded to add some more of the flowers left in his lap into the little loops of the braid. ”I thought you might be happy if I did something like that for you…”_

_Hinata couldn’t have stopped himself from grinning, even if he wanted to. Maybe he too was blushing, it wouldn’t have surprised him. ”Would you be happy if I made one for you, too? Maybe with some bluebells, and forget-me-not’s…”_

_Kageyama raised a brow. ”Only blue flowers?”_

_”Yeah, I think they would make your eyes look very pretty… so, could you show me how to make one?”_

_Kageyama placed the flower-crown onto Hinata’s head, carefully adjusting it to make sure it sat perfectly where he wanted it._

_”Yeah… I can show you.”_

◊ ◊◊

”Achoo!” Hinata sneezed into the crook of his elbow and snivelled loudly right as Kageyama opened the door to his bedroom. Kageyama shot him a grossed out expression, but walked up to Hinata and placed a cup of tea in his hands despite wanting to keep a good distance away from Hinata’s intense sneezes. ”Thanks,” he croaked. Kageyama simply huffed. 

”Idiot,” he grumbled. ”You should’ve worn better clothes, then maybe you wouldn’t have gotten sick.” 

”It’s not my fault!” Hinata said shrilly, but speaking with such a loud voice sent him into a small coughing fit. Kageyama quickly snatched the cup out of his hands again, worrying he would spill the hot water all over himself while coughing. As Hinata busied himself with his coughs, Kageyama whispered a gentle word close to the brim of the cup, cooling the water slightly with a simple but discrete spell. Hinata regained control over his voice shortly thereafter. ”Easy for you to be all smart about it in hindsight - you could’ve warned me before it got to this.” He glowered at Kageyama through watery eyes, but his expression softened when Kageyama gave the tea back to him. Kageyama ignored his accusing looks. 

”It should be cold enough to drink, but blow on it just to be safe,” Kageyama warned. Hinata looked extremely cozy, propped up with pillows and tucked in under covers and blankets. But he also looked a mess, bags under his eyes and his nose and cheeks dusted red. Kageyama was pretty sure that his hair was even messier than usual, too. He was cupping his hands around the porcelain, warming his hands. Kageyama had a weird urge to cup his own hands over his to warm them, but the idea was fickle, and left his mind as soon as it had appeared. His hands usually weren’t very warm, anyway. 

”Thanks,” Hinata said sweetly after taking a long sip, his voice coming a bit hoarse. ”Lucky…” he mumbled. 

”What is?” Kageyama said and sat down on his own borrowed bed across the room. 

”To have someone make tea for me when I’m sick… no one has done that since I moved away from home…” He inhaled the smell of ginger and honey, looking smitten. ”I remember my mom used to make tea like this for me…” 

A scene briefly entered Kageyama’s mind, of himself as a young boy with a runny nose, cupping a large glass of warm, milky tea. He could recall the smell of it, and the room he stood in, warm and cluttered and magical. A weather-beaten, wrinkly hand touched his forehead tenderly, and an almost forgotten, kind voice spoke; 

”There’s no magic remedy in the world that can outmatch a warm cup of tea made with love when you’re feeling down…” 

”Yeah, my mom used to say that too,” Hinata sighed and took a long sip from his cup. Kageyama startled - he hadn’t realized he said that out loud. ”Honey, ginger and lemon was how she always made it…”

”I couldn’t find any lemon…” Kageyama wrung his hands a little, his fingers suddenly felt cold. 

Hinata hummed, a smile on his tired face. ”That’s alright. Maybe you could buy some later? You can use my wallet, if you’d like! You can buy me sweets, too!” 

”I’ll take care of it, no worries…” As much as Kageyama scolded Hinata for getting himself sick, did feel guilty about Hinata’s current state. Sure, catching a cold wasn’t very serious, but he couldn’t help but feel that it was a direct result of his own doing. He hadn’t paid much thought to that Hinata was getting himself soaked every day out in the garden - it must’ve been cold. He himself never thought much of it, he was used to the rain and had a his coat to protect him. He wondered how many people in the village had caught a cold in the middle of summer, just like Hinata. He sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. 

”Y-you don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” Hinata chuckled awkwardly, shyly digging himself deeper into the pillows behind him. 

Kageyama immediately sat upright. ”No- I mean, I do want to. I’ll take care of uh, everything. While you recover.” A smile tugged at Hinata’s lips at that. 

”Thank you, Nice-yama! Don’t feel too sorry for me, I’m sure I’ll be back and kicking tomorrow”. He grinned even wider at Kageyama’s sceptical face, but his grin was quickly wiped away by another particularly violent sneeze. 

◊

Walking the distance back to the centre of the village was very different when Hinata wasn’t with him. Usually he was chattering beside him the entire time, talking about everything from the people living i the village to the weeds growing on the road under their feet. The road felt a lot longer to walk alone, despite the distance being the exact same as always. Hinata often walked to town alone, as Kageyama usually declined coming with him. He wondered what Hinata did to keep himself occupied… probably thinking about something stupid, or maybe singing. He considered the latter for a second, but immediately got anxious that someone might overhear. 

He sighed, instead. Hinata being sick wasn’t exactly a good thing, for many reasons. He was mostly worried about his well-being - it was odd to see him so tired and out of it. It made him want to drop everything and take care of the poor gardener - and that was the second thing he worried about. He wasn’t supposed to stay here, he was on a quest - but he had really found himself in a trap this time. A fiery and sweet gardener with warm kind eyes and a bright toothy smile was apparently his biggest weakness, which was very good to know for future reference. But of course, there was no way Kageyama would leave now, right as Hinata got sick because of him. He was kind of happy he had chosen to stay awhile longer, or else Hinata maybe got sick while all alone in the cottage. It was odd to him, how someone like Hinata lived alone, when he seemed to practically pull people towards him with his overwhelming charm. Why wasn’t he living with friends, or a lover of some sort… 

The clouds were extra dark that day, hauntingly blue. The rain was light for now, but those clouds promised nothing but heavy downpour. He amused himself for the rest of the walk with avoiding puddles in the road, just as dark and blue as the sky above. 

The young man working behind the counter in the grocery store was also somewhat chatty just like Hinata, but he was somehow much gentler in his way of speaking and carrying himself, maybe owing to his taller and broader built. He had a breath of responsibility about him. He helped Kageyama picking out the ingredients in a way that was almost parental, despite them being very close in age. Kageyama didn’t mind tho, he liked Daichi a lot. 

”Why isn’t Hinata with you today?” He asked, brushing his short black hair back from his forehead. 

”He caught a cold…” Kageyama still felt shy talking to the other people in the village, especially when they were so blatantly kind like Daichi, so he didn’t quite dare to look him in the eye. 

”Ah, poor thing,” he hummed. ”Give him well wishes from me. Will he be alright?” 

”Yes.” Kageyama gave a firm nod. Daichi chuckled, drawing Kageyama’s eyes to his face. 

”Sorry, I suppose it was a dumb question,” he patted Kageyama firmly on the shoulder, giving him a kind smile. ”He came in here the other week singing praise over you, you know! I think he’s really happy to have some company over there, we barely see him in town anymore. Don’t tell him I told you that, though,” he finished with a playful grin.

”Oh… is that so…” Kageyama scratched his neck awkwardly. ”That’s g- nice.” Daichi chuckled at him again, he felt his face burn at the sound of it. He didn’t see what was so funny. 

”Here, take this with you,” he said and held out a glass bottle with some sort drink in it. Lemon-slices and small white flowers floated inside. Kageyama leaned close and watched them dance in the syrupy liquid, and looked up at Daichi with a silent question on his face. ”It’s elderflower juice, my spouse makes it,” Daichi told him, ”Mix a little of it with water and have Hinata drink some, it’ll fix him right up.” When Kageyama reached for his coins Daichi held up a hand, stopping Kageyama from fishing some out for him. ”No need, this is a gift for him - and you too, I suppose. Just tell him to take care of himself.” He placed it in Kageyama’s paper bag and sent him off before he could insist on paying the kind man. 

◊

Returning to Hinata’s home was pleasant as always, even though it was rather lonesome to walk around the house without Hinata bouncing around in it. Still, he made a cup of tea with ginger, honey, and this time lemon too, and as Daichi had advised he fixed a glass of elderflower juice as well. Hinata greeted him with a sleepy smile when he walked into the room. 

”I heard when you came home…” Somehow he both looked and sounded worse off than before Kageyama had left, but his voice was very tender despite the roughness of it. Kageyama noted that it sounded deeper than before too. Juliette was resting beside him, but she had perked up when Kageyama opened the door, cautiously watching him as he approached. 

”Did I wake you up? You look like crap,” he said, only half joking. Juliette eyed him closely as he gave Hinata the cup of tea, following his hand with her eyes as he placed the elderflower juice on his bedside table. Kageyama hesitated before carefully scratching her behind her ear, which she seemed to tolerate, but perhaps not love very much. Kageyama thought of this as an improvement. 

”Yeah, but it’s ok… thank you for going to town for me. What’s that?” 

”Elderflower juice. Daichi insisted that I give it to you, as a gift from him and his spouse.” Kageyama looked at Hinata’s tousled hair with mild annoyance and reached out to stroke it into place, seeing as Hinata wasn’t about to brush it anytime soon. It was soft under his hand, but not as workable as he thought it would be, so he gave it a rest pretty much immediately. ”Let me know if it’s too sweet, he told me to mix with water but I don’t know how much.” 

Hinata looked at him with eyes that seemed very awake suddenly, they were almost star-like and seemed to shine. ”I like sweet,” he said, with what Kageyama would consider a rather dumb face. He huffed a laugh at Hinata, but he still wasn’t sure what was so funny. 

”Just hurry up and get better,” he said, and turned around to leave the room. 

”Where are you going?” Hinata asked, sitting up slightly from his somehow growing mountain of pillows. Kageyama swore there were at least three more pillows around him than before he left. 

”Well, since you’re useless while you’re bedridden, I was thinking of doing some work outside…” Kageyama watched Hinata closely, how he drummed his fingers around his tea cup, how he chewed his lip as thoughts raced behind his brown eyes. ”What..?” He asked. Hinata shrugged a little, a pout on his lip. 

”I was thinking maybe… maybe you want to rest today, too? I mean, wouldn’t it be nicer with a day in with me?” he said, smiling as if he was offering quite a bad deal to Kageyama and hoping he wouldn’t notice. 

”What, hang out in here and breathe the same sickness-air that you’re breathing?” Kageyama teased, feeling a rather unkind smile creep onto his face. Hinata gawked at him. 

”Don’t be rude! I’m giving you the day off!” He gave Kageyama a _very_ unthreatening glare as he leaned back into his pillows. ”You don’t _have_ to, maybe you just _love_ working in the garden so much.”

Kageyama couldn’t help but huff another laugh. ”Don’t make it sound like I hate it - it’s nice. But I’ll stay in with you. Just don’t make me sick too, ok?” 

Hinata’s face broke into a wide smile then, and Kageyama realized he’d like to make it so it never went away. 

And with that they spent the entire day in Hinata’s bedroom, with all the pillows and covers Hinata owned scattered around them on the floor (which appeared to be an excessive amount). The whole day was spent on card games that Hinata very patiently taught Kageyama how to play, to then amuse Kageyama with his calls for rematch when Kageyama started to beat him at them. They kept at it for hours until they decided enough was enough. Kageyama’s total wins were now 63 against Hinata’s 62. 

Kageyama told stories of people and creatures he had met - one story that particularly fell in Hinata’s taste was about a giant man Kageyama had stumbled upon once, a kindhearted being with strong magical powers who could make flowers bloom in mere seconds. Hinata had dreamt aloud how he wished he could make things magically bloom too, clearly still jealous of the magic people honed. They only left the bedroom to make food - Kageyama carried Hinata on his back down the stairs even though he knew Hinata could walk perfectly fine, and they filled the home with a warm homely smell of soup. Hinata hung over Kageyama’s shoulder and told him what to do, but insisted he was too sick to have the energy to do it himself. Kageyama didn’t mind much though - it was nice to feel like he could do something kind for Hinata, even if it wasn’t much. 

The two of them sat up late on Hinata’s bed, talking about everything below the clouds and the little details that filled their lives, until the candlelight around them died out and Hinata fell asleep against his pillows. 

Kageyama stayed up after that, cleaning the many cups that had gathered in the bedroom, basking in the warmth and comfort of Hinata’s home. He dangerously let himself feel like maybe this place for just a moment was his, too. Before going to sleep as well, he pulled Hinata’s covers higher above his sleeping frame and stroked his hair one last time, still as untameable as before, but soft like satin in his palm. Hinata smiled in his sleep.

◊

Hinata continued to be ill for another week. The cold at first had been relatively harmless, and Hinata seemed to want to keep it appearing so, but Kageyama had a sneaking suspicion that while he was out working in the garden, Hinata was struggling inside the house. He sometimes heard the coughing fits that rattled the house all the way from outside, and he couldn’t help but wince at the hoarseness in Hinata’s throat. Yet every time he brought him food or tea, he smiled cheerily and said he was merely tired and had a bit of a sore throat. Kageyama felt his forehead once, and was shocked by his cold damp skin. Hinata had said that Kageyama’s hand must simply be warm, but he didn’t believe that for a second. He once walked into the hallway to find Hinata pulling his boots on, staggering and almost falling over from exhaustion, yet still insisting he could go outside and work. Kageyama promptly carried him right back upstairs, thinking _enough was enough_. 

When he told Daichi about Hinata’s worsening condition, he was relieved to hear that Daichi was concerned by this, too.

”That’s just typical. Acting like everything’s fine when it’s clearly not- look at me, I’m getting all fired up.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, calming himself down. Kageyama suspected it wasn’t quite anger as much as it was genuine concern. 

”I just got a bit worried… or, maybe very worried.” Kageyama anxiously tugged at the sleeves of his shirt, fiddling with them to distract himself. ”I’ve never gotten a cold like that before, so I’m unsure of what to do now when Hinata’s so, you know…” 

Daichi’s expression softened at this. He pulled his fingers through his hair and sighed, his frustration completely gone. 

”A cold is fine, as long as it doesn’t go on for too long. But it can turn nasty if it’s not cared for, and a fever is never good.” His voice had totally changed to something akin of a wise elder. Perhaps he noticed that Kageyama had come to him for help. 

”H-he’s cold to the touch… I’ve done everything, made food and kept him warm and- and-” Kageyama stammered, but Daichi quickly held up a hand to stop Kageyama from saying anything more. 

”Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ve done everything you could,” Daichi smiled.”But lemons and tea won’t do him any good at this point. Look here, down the street.” He walked around the counter and waved for Kageyama to follow him to the window, where he pointed down the road to a collection of houses. ”Over there’s a pharmacy, I’m sure they can fix something for him - I would trust them with my life, I think.” He suddenly grabbed Kageyama’s both arms and made him look Daichi in his fierce eyes. ”Im glad you were here to look after him, Kageyama. Who knows how ill he would get without you.” 

”I- uhm! Thank you!” Kageyama said, way too loudly. His face was heating significantly by the intense air, and he gave a deep bow to hide his reddening face. Daichi gave him a kind but firm pat on both his arms and sent him away. 

He felt where the pharmacy was before he had even seen the sign hanging in the window. The air around it was almost flowery and felt as though it sparked with magic, comforting but sharp. 

Behind the wooden doors was a dimly lit room, warm candle-light poured over books and jars filled with what Kageyama recognized as dried flowers and herbs. His nose tickled from the smell that hung in the air - a smokey sweet smell, laced with lavender and secrets only magic could hold. A woman sat behind a desk with a book open in front of her. She adjusted the glasses sitting on her nose when Kageyama walked in, and looked at him with subdued curiosity in her eyes. 

”Sorry to disturb,” Kageyama gave her a small bow. 

”It’s okay,” she said, her voice serene and even, it washed over Kageyama like calming waves. She closed the book and stood up to greet him. Her black, silky hair fell neatly onto her shoulders, and with her pale face she looked rather doll-like. ”I’m Shimizu Kiyoko. Are you well?” 

”Huh?”

”I’m a medical practitioner…” she explained, gesturing at the sign hanging in the window. 

”Oh- yes, _I’m_ fine,” Kageyama spluttered. ”My uh… he’s… my friend, Hinata, _he’s_ ill. Just a cold, but I think it’s getting bad…” The woman smiled, faintly. 

”Hinata’s caught a cold, huh…” She seemed only slightly amused by Kageyama’s stammering, to his great relief. He watched as she turned back to the book she was reading, flipping through the pages at a calm, controlled pace. ”I can make a potion for him. What symptoms did he display? Runny nose? Fever?” 

”Uhm-” Something in the corner of his eye drew his attention away from the pretty woman, towards the doorway into a room further back in the store. Another woman was peeking in on him with big, round eyes. She blushed a faint, cherry-red color when Kageyama caught her staring at him, and hid behind her blonde fringe bashfully. Shimizu looked up, followed Kageyama’s gaze, and broke into a kind smile at the sight of the intruder. 

”Yachi,” she said, her voice warm, and the blonde girl yelped slightly. She stepped out into the doorframe and bowed deeply, her hair falling forward over her face. 

”Sorry for intruding!” she exclaimed. ”I thought Hinata was here!” 

”He’s ill, sadly.” Shimizu said, waving her towards them. The blonde girl shyly stepped forward to greet him and shake his hand. 

”I’m Kageyama.” He said simply, marvelling at how small her hand was in his larger palm. Her skin was oddly soft, almost unnaturally so. 

”Oh, so you’re Kageyama! Yachi Hitoka, I’m Hinata’s friend, he has mentioned you a couple… times…” she trailed off, staring at Kageyama’s hand with those round, shiny eyes. For a second Kageyama wondered if she, too, was astonished by the difference in size of their hands. She lifted her gaze and looked into Kageyama’s eyes with wonder, before turning around to look at Shimizu, still without letting go of Kageyama’s hand. 

”Shimizu!” she hissed breathlessly. ”I can feel- I-!” 

Shimizu, who had watched the exchange rather nosily, got this look on her face as if something had dawned upon her. She looked between Yachi’s elated expression and Kageyama’s stupefied face, before her eyes settled on Yachi and smiled once more. 

”That’s very well done, Yachi,” she said as she walked up to put a hand on her shoulder. He noticed her eyes were very gentle when she turned to look at him, kindly grey under her long lashes. ”Yachi is my dear apprentice. We are both witches, and we practice medicine with our sorcery,” she explained. 

”You’re a witch, too! I can feel it, on your palm!” Yachi blurted out, excitement glittering in her eyes as she gleamed at him. 

Kageyama tensed up severely at this. Yachi must have felt it, because she quickly let go of Kageyama’s hand when he did, the excitement in her eyes died and confusion took its place. She glanced at Shimizu, who still looked at Kageyama rather intensely, even though she seemed so calm and collected. 

”Maybe that’s a secret?” She asked with a very soft voice, as if she was talking to a feral kitten. Kageyama huffed and glanced around the room, avoiding looking her in the eye. Shimizu and Yachi exchanged looks with one another. 

”I-if it’s a secret, we wont tell anyone!” Yachi said shrilly. ”Right, Shimizu?” Shimizu nodded reassuringly. 

”Don’t worry Kageyama. You can trust us with a secret like that.” Shimizu put a gentle hand on his arm, and somehow he felt himself relax as she did. ”You don’t have to talk about it.” 

”Thanks…” his voice came low and hushed, revealing some of the fear he felt in his chest. 

”I got so happy because it’s the first time I sensed magic!” Yachi smiled to him, squeezing her hands together as if she could still feel it lingering on her palm. ”I’ve practiced a lot, but it’s so difficult! I only recently discovered that I’m a witch, so…I’m sorry if I scared you, I really didn’t mean to!” She bowed as she apologised. 

”It’s ok. Uh. Congratulations…” Kageyama bowed back to her. She gave a wide smile. 

”Thank you, Kageyama! So, uhm, you’re the one Hinata told me about, I’m happy to meet you! Does he know? J-Just so I know, if he knows!” 

”I haven’t told him…” He almost winced at the blatant insecurity in his voice, but Yachi only smiled. 

”Ok, I won’t tell him, promise! Did you say he had fallen ill?” Yachi’s smile turned worried. 

”Only a cold,” Kageyama reassured. ”But I think he’s more sick than he’s letting on. He’s been bedridden for almost a week, and his skin is cold, very cold, and he cough a lot,” he told Shimizu, picking up where they left off.

She nodded and went to scan the shelves for ingredients. ”This will only take a little while,” she promised. Yachi quickly joined her to help her out. 

Kageyama amused himself for the next 20 minutes with watching the two witches work together - he had little knowledge of the medicine aspect of sorcery, but found it very fascinating none the less. Yachi was inexperienced still, though it was clear to Kageyama that she had great potential as a witch, especially when working next to Shimizu who was very capable and attentive. They minced flowers and herbs together in a mortar, both the mortar and the pestle were adorned with symbols vaguely familiar to Kageyama - signs meant to symbolise phrases of care and time. Shimizu sweetly encouraged Yachi to speak spells with her, sealing their potion with words webbed with sorcery. 

Shimizu gave him a bottle with a brown paper label tied with a string around the cork once they were done. 

”This should get him up and running soon,” she smiled. ”Accompanied with a warm cup of tea it should have greater effect, or something else that’s warm.”

”Here, too! From me!” Yachi placed a small wooden amulet in Kageyama’s outstretched palm. The amulet was adorned in a language he didn’t know at all, but the surprising weight of it in his hand was oddly reassuring. The magic held in the wooden vessel was crisp, and it made his mind feel clear as he examined it closer. ”It’s for good health! I made it myself,” She blushed, but smiled confidently. 

Kageyama bowed to both of them and thanked them profoundly. 

◊

Hinata winced with the spoon still in his mouth. Kageyama had to try and convince him for a good five minutes that he was indeed sick enough to need medicine, and another few just to get the spoon into his mouth. 

”I don’t get what you’re moping about, it smells good.” It smelled of honey, smoke and clover, and Kageyama was pretty certain he smelled valerian root as well, and the liquid glistened in shades of silvery grey and purple in the glass-bottle. It was quite pretty and pleasant for being a medicine, but Hinata seemed to disagree. 

”Sure, for you maybe! My nose is clogged so I don’t smell anything, it’s just bitter to me.” Hinata scowled at him with a betrayed look on his face, arms crossed over his chest. 

”You should have told me your friends were medics.” Kageyama gave him a cold glare, which seemed to mellow Hinata’s grumpy attitude as he intertwined his fingers over his chest, taking a meek posture. ”If you had, maybe you’d be fine by now.”

”Maybe…” He glanced out the window, away from Kageyama’s piercing stare. ”Did you meet Yachi?” 

”Yes. She was very nice,” Kageyama gave Hinata another spoonful of the potion, this time he didn’t put up a fight, but took the spoon in his hand and swallowed it (somewhat) willingly. ”She sent you well wishes, as well as a magical charm for good health.” 

”A charm?!-” the squeak in his voice sent him into a coughing fit. Kageyama could only wait for it to pass as Hinata’s shoulders shook with each rattling cough. It hurt him to see him this way. He fished the charm up from the pocket in his pants and held it out for Hinata to take once he was done. ”Sorry- a charm? I didn’t know she could make those already.” He turned the charm over in his palm, examining the symbols on it. His lips moved silently as his eyes scanned over it - Kageyama wondered if he maybe knew the language, too. He felt a surge of curiosity. Did Hinata know something about magic that Kageyama himself didn’t already know? Maybe Yachi had taught him a thing or two. He’d have to ask Hinata to look at the charm more closely later, or perhaps ask Yachi to tell him about the language before he left this village behind. 

”She’s a capable witch. I felt it in her palm, the magic is just not honed yet.” Kageyama reached over to Hinata’s cheek and brushed away the tears that had squeezed out of his eyes during his violent coughing. ”Shimizu seem to be a good teacher for her, you can tell she has had a lot of practice.” 

With the tips of his fingers, Hinata brushed his cheek where Kageyama just touched. ”You know so much of magic, Kageyama…” his voice was airy and his eyes studied him closely, more alert than he had seen him in several days. 

”I’ve met a lot of witches,” Kageyama said with a shrug. This was no lie - a lot of what he knew he head learnt from witches he had met. Truth to be told, a third of the magic he could perform were bits and pieces he had picked up from around him, little things he couldn’t help but notice and write into his palms. Witches usually sought out teachers who could pass down their knowledge, but Kageyama had no such luxury - not anymore. And yet he had so much more left to learn… 

”I’ve only met Yachi and Shimizu… I met Yachi at the market where Daichi works. She had no idea she was a witch back then! I bet you would have been able to tell right away,” Hinata chuckled. ”You feel magic with your touch, right?”

”Sort of… I can feel it in my palms the best, but in the air, too. There are witches who can see and hear magic, too.” 

”What! I wish I could so badly… Magic is so cool…” Hinata leaned back into his pillows and smiled dreamily, eyes closed. ”Can you tell me what it feels like? I want to try to envision it…”

”Hmm… well, it feels different, depending on what kind of spell or sorcery it is, I guess…” Kageyama pulled the covers a little higher up over Hinata’s chest, determined to keep him warm and get him back to full health. Hinata hummed his thanks. ”The secret well felt… like whispers on my skin, sort of. Not that I could hear anything, but maybe you could imagine it. It felt old and sad, and enthralling in a way. I could feel the same thing in the garden outside, except more sweet and lively…” Hinata hummed once more, his eyes still closed. He seemed to be listening intently, maybe trying to will himself to understand the feeling. ”When the magic is very strong, or falls over you very suddenly, it can feel like… sparks, and cracks in the air. Like how you feel wind ghost over your skin, but different… and sometimes you feel it inside, somehow… it’s very hard to explain.” 

Hinata suddenly opened his eyes and looked at him, his eyes strangely bright. ”Could it feel soft too? Like… like satin? Or silk…?” His voice was faint. Kageyama nodded, unsure what to make of the expression on Hinata’s face. It faded as quickly as it had come. ”Hmmmm,” he hummed, his thoughts far away. ”I feel a bit better…” 

”Oh? Maybe you should have some more medicine, it seems to be helping-” 

”Kageyama, no! No more!” Hinata chuckled, digging himself deeper into his comfortable pile of pillows. ”Is it cold in here?”

”No, you’re the only one who’s cold.” Kageyama placed his palm over Hinata’s forehead to feel his temperature, and he leaned into the touch with closed eyes like a sleepy cat. Kageyama wished Juliette was half as affectionate as Hinata was, but she still barely tolerated being touched by him. ”Do you want tea, or something else warm? They said the potion works better that way…” 

”Your hand is warm,” Hinata said with a sleepy glance, and Kageyama thought the amber in his eyes were stronger when peeking through his eyelashes like this. He felt as though all of him was pretty warm now, not just his hand. ”Hey… do you like working in the garden?” 

”Yeah,” Kageyama said very quickly, almost too quickly. Hinata smiled though, a sleepy tug at the corners of his lips, so it must be fine. 

”Me too…” His eyes slipped closed again, and he sighed, ”it’s more fun with you…”

Kageyama moved his palm over Hinata’s tousled orange hair very slowly, over and over again. It must be fine, because his smile didn’t quite fade even after his breathing changed into a slow and steady rhythm. It should all be fine, cause Kageyama slowly felt him warm up under his touch. It all could be fine, if only he could have Hinata smiling forever. Rain thrummed onto the window, the sound was a murmur he understood so clearly. Under his ribcage was another rhythm, slow and steady and beckoning. 

He really didn’t want to go. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update will be in two days, as planned! I hope you like the story, I would love to hear what you think of it so far!  
> See you in a couple days!


	4. Crescent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're more than half-way through now!! I'm so happy...

◊◊◊

_Hinata snivelled as he walked down the stairs, fumbling with his hand along the wall so he wouldn’t lose himself in the darkness. He felt drowsy, but not exhausted, as hehad the past week. He had awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of raindrops tapping onto the window, a comforting white noise, but missing was Kageyama’s sleeping shape on the other side of the room that he had gotten so used to seeing._

_He walked into the living-room, where the crackling of a dying fire complimented the gentle murmur of the rain. A smile spread across his face at the sight of Kageyama's slumped form, asleep sitting on the couch with a quilt in his hands, a silvery glistening needle hung onto a thin golden thread. He seemed to have fallen asleep while busying himself with it, an embroidery had grown around the hem of it. It was stunning, begging to be admired. Kageyama’s face was still and peaceful, red in the glow of the dying fire._

_Hinata snuck his hand into Kageyama’s, squeezing it slightly. He seemed to stir awake slightly, and squeezed his hand back. Hinata found it impossibly endearing._

_”Kageyama…” he called, softly and quietly, to not scare him awake. Kageyama cracked his eyes open a little bit and searched the room, finding Hinata close to him. Hinata smiled at the sight of the deep blue color in his eyes with the likeness of late evening skies, and a warm calm settled within him at the sight of that small little smile that tugged at Kageyama’s lips. ”You’ll get a crick in your back if you sleep here, dummy…”_

_”Hmm…” Kageyama rubbed his eyes with the back if his fingers, barely awake. A cowlick had made his hair stand on end, and Hinata was quick to let his hand stroke his inky black hair into place, adoring how Kageyama seemed to be drifting back to sleep as he did. He sighed, so content that it almost hurt to take him away from his peaceful slumber. Hinata wondered if he had dreamt about something nice - he hoped he had. ”You should be sleepin’…” he mumbled._

_”So should you - in your bed, not here. Come with me,” Hinata tugged a bit at his fringe, which put Kageyama’s still just as endearing frown back on his face._

_”I’m comin’…” He stood up slowly with a big sigh, bringing the quilt with him and placing the needle on the table. He leant his body close to Hinata’s in his state of being barely-awake. "Here," he pressed the quilt onto Hinata's chest for him to take. "It'll keep you warm," he yawned. Hinata wrapped his arm around Kageyama’s back, thinking of how hard he had worked to keep the garden well as he had been bedridden. Not only that, but he had taken care of the chickens, and Juliette, not to mention Hinata himself. A fondness expanded in his chest for Kageyama, pressing closer to him as they walked._

_"Thank you," he said, hoping it would carry over some of his feeling._

_He made sure to write the feeling into his heart, so he wouldn’t ever forget about it. Because he knew, that this wasn’t forever. He knew that whatever Kageyama was on a journey towards couldn’t possibly be found within his home. How could it, with all the things of wonders he already left behind? There were no wonders to be found here. But that didn’t stop Hinata from holding on to that humble gleam in Kageyama’s eyes, that sparked with something amazing._

_Somewhere in his heart, he hoped he could change Kageyama’s mind._

◊◊◊

”Hinata?!” Kageyama quickly stepped out in front of the house, only briefly stopping to make sure the door closed behind him. 

Hinata was skipping very joyously through a particularly large puddle of water that had gathered outside the gate of the flowery garden. The windflowers and violets had since long ago wilted and died, and in their place grew purple salvias and vibrant marigolds in shades of orange, competing with the glow of Hinata’s hair. Large drops of puddle water splashed them as Hinata violently hopped into the water, laughing happily at the sight of Kageyama joining him. 

”Kageyama!” He yelled over the rain. His soaked shirt clung to his chest, and his fringe laid flat over his forehead and poked into his eyes. 

”Are you an idiot?” Kageyama scolded, shielding his face from rain by holding a hand above his face. ”You’re barely well and you decide to go drown yourself in mud-water?” 

”Oh, I didn’t know you were my _mom_ ,” Hinata rolled his eyes at him. ”A very morbid mom, at that! Mind your language maybe?” 

”Put on a coat at least! You’re going to get soaked,” Kageyama held out his black coat to Hinata, refusing to step into the water that now swirled with dirt. 

Hinata looked less sassy at being offered to wear Kageyama’s coat, and very carefully took it from Kageyama’s outstretched grip. His eyes glimmered with pride and curiosity. 

”I get to wear it?” He started putting his arms into it before Kageyama could tell him yes. He made a grimace after only a few seconds, realising that putting a dry piece of clothing over soaked clothes wasn’t very comfortable. Kageyama laughed at him, but quickly put on a frown when Hinata caught him smiling. 

”Don’t make fun of me!” he exclaimed, but was very clearly smiling too. ”And I’m fine, really! I feel totally amazing!” He flashed his widest grin, as if to prove his good health. ”Wanna stop being a killjoy and join me in the puddle? You know, I never got the chance to jump in puddles as a kid!” Hinata stepped on the spot, creating little waves on the surface. Kageyama stomped hard into the water and splashed it up Hinata’s leg, who yelped and stepped back. ”Kageyama!” he yelled, but there was laughter in his voice. 

”Want to stop being a dumbass and join me for breakfast?” Kageyama bit back, and backed away from the puddle before Hinata could get revenge. 

◊

Having Hinata back on track again was a relief for many reasons. The hens weren’t quite as accepting of Kageyama as they were of Hinata, and while Kageyama had spent a long time at Hinata’s cottage by now, he still couldn’t find his way around things in the garden as smoothly. Hinata was, no matter how you looked at it, much more skilled at taking care of plants than he was. He had no idea how Hinata kept up with all the work on his own before, he must have spent all his time there in order to keep things functioning. The plants perked right up after Hinata came back out, the garden immediately looked as though it was flourishing again. Or maybe Hinata just made everything around him beautiful by simply just being there, Kageyama wondered. 

The house came alive again as well, as soon as Hinata got back up on his feet. The calm stillness had vanished in an instant, and was replaced by Hinata’s sing-songy voice and his chatter and - honestly, his whole spirit. 

But the evenings on Hinata’s farm were the most amazing, now more than ever. 

This particular evening the air was cool, and the rain was sparse. Birds of some kind sung mellow songs and chased one another in the sky, dancing and tossing themselves around as if they were made of wind. An earthy smell of nature filled the air around them as they sat under the roof that extended from the house, safe from the rain trickling down from above. Even Juliette had joined them outside, sitting in Hinata’s lap and looking very relaxed for once. 

Hinata took a deep breath and sighed beside him. Somehow, even if the air felt cool and damp, Kageyama didn’t freeze at all. He felt rather warm next to Hinata - he was like a flame, full of warmth that seemed to bleed into the very air around them. Their legs were touching, and the point of contact between them almost burnt on Kageyama’s skin. 

”Are we done for today?” Kageyama asked, without looking at him. He wondered if they should do some work before calling it a day, before it got too dark - but truth to be told, he’d rather just sit there and bask in this feeling. Hinata sighed again and slumped against the wall behind their backs. 

”Yeah, we’re done…” he said, his voice relaxed and kind. Kageyama glanced at him. He looked very… still. It was odd to see him like that - usually he was full of energy and bouncing around excitedly, his mouth running 100 miles an hour. Especially after his sick episode, he seemed to have wanted to make up for lost time in terms of energy. _Maybe he was getting sick again?_ Kageyama felt his heart sink a bit. Maybe the weather was getting to him, finally… he didn’t want to think about it, but breaking Hinata’s spirit would be-

”You know, I thought I got used to the rain…” Hinata interrupted Kageyama’s train of thought. ”… but I think… there’s many different kinds of rain. Storms, where it pours down heavily, and like this, calm and still… Do you think so?” He turned his head to look back at Kageyama, who nodded silently. ”I thought I got used to it, but every day it’s something new. A different feeling.” He looked at the birds as they swept over the garden, following their movements with his eyes. 

”You get tired of rain fast,” Kageyama told him. ”If it rains every day, it’s inevitable that you sicken.” 

”Ine… what?” Hinata smiled to him. 

”Inevitable… like, it’s bound to happen. If you aren’t tired of the rain already, you surely will be, soon.” 

”I’m not tired of it…” Hinata looked down at his palms covered in dirt, intertwining his fingers together. ”I think it’s pretty nice.” 

Kageyama chewed on his lip. There was a question on his mind that he hadn’t dared asking anyone, but now… he wondered if he could bear to hear the answer. He inhaled, and let the question spill from his lips without thinking too hard about it. ”Do you miss the sun?” 

Hinata hummed. ”Of course I do,” he answered, very simply. A cold, chilly feeling ran down Kageyama’s back all the way down to his heels, and he balled his hands into fists. ”But, I mean…” Hinata continued, and drew his fingers through his damp hair as he thought. ”I only miss it because we haven’t had sunny weather in a while now. It’s always sunny here, it’s the same in Elmfort, so I know that once it’s been sunny for a while, I’ll miss the rain again.” He huffed a little laugh suddenly and wrapped his arms around his legs, bringing them up close to his chest. He didn’t seem to want to share what was funny to him, because he quickly asked, ”Do you miss the sun, Kageyama?” He looked at him with a gentle smile, and to Kageyama it was blissfully unknowing. 

He sighed deeply and closed his eyes firmly before admitting, ”yeah.” All the time, he thought. He couldn’t remember the feeling of sunlight on his skin, or the blinding light that stung his eyes. Missing it was an understatement. He’s dedicated his life to finding it again.

”What about the moon?” 

Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows at this. ”The moon?”

”Yeah! I think I miss the moon more than the sun, if anything. In the evenings and mornings I would sometimes sit here, and I look over the garden and the sky over there as the moon passes by.” He held his hand in front of himself, as if he was smearing the sky with his palm, showing the moons. ”I always felt like… I dunno, really, it’s silly,” Hinata chuckled and tugged on his fringe, a red hue blooming over his cheeks. 

Kageyama poked him with his elbow. ”Is it embarrassing or something,” he teased. Hinata waved a hand at him as if to shut him up, but he was smiling warmly, staring out at nothing. 

”I guess so…” he sighed, before telling. ”I always felt like the moon was a silent companion to me, or something. I wasn’t lonely or anything when I was a kid, I always had people around…” While Hinata looked out over the garden, Kageyama let himself watch Hinata more closely. A small smile was tugging on his lips, faint under the soft shadows on his face. He felt enamoured by Hinata’s red eyelashes, and the freckles on his cheek and jaw.”Even when I didn’t have friends to be with, I still had my family… I used to play a lot with my little sister when we both were still kids.” 

”I didn’t know you had a sister…” Kageyama rubbed his arms, suddenly feeling slightly cold. 

”Hehe, she would like you…” Hinata scratched the nape of his neck, it too was dusted red and freckled. ”I miss her quite a lot… But, see, when I moved away from home, I didn’t expect the house to be so big. It wasn’t when I was little, cause there was always people… I’m so used to having people around, but here I didn’t know anyone at all, and it was just me… And me being shy, it was hard to get in touch with people…”

” _Shy_? You practically pulled me into your house when we met,” Kageyama huffed a laugh in disbelief. Hinata joined him, his more hearty than Kageyama’s own. He felt as though he, too, was displaying a warm shade across his face at the sight of Hinata’s scrunched up nose and pinched eyes, so close to him he could feel the warmth from Hinata’s body flowing over him. The cold feeling was blown away, forgotten by Kageyama. 

”That was different!” Hinata exclaimed once he was done laughing. ”You were the one who wanted to come in, after all. But that’s beside the point! The point is that I felt lonely, especially in the evenings when it’s all quiet. So I would sit here and watch the moon on the night sky, and I could do it for hours and hours on end… you probably wouldn’t see me any calmer than in those moments. And the stars, wow…” Hinata smiled fondly and closed his eyes, as if he could see them behind his eyelids. ”You probably already know of it already, but the stars out here, away from the bright cities… nothing compares.” 

Kageyama looked over the garden and up at the sky, trying to visualise it. The moon and the night sky had of course been on Kageyama’s mind, but hardly as profoundly as the sun, as it was light and warmth that he had been looking for all this time. But hearing Hinata talk so passionately about the moon sparked some curiosity within him. He knew very well of the moon, for it too was closely tied with magic, but to Hinata it seemed something special on a personal level.

”I met a witch once, who was kindred with the moon,” he confessed. Hinata immediately turned to Kageyama, his mouth shaped around a little o. 

”There’s moon witches?! No way!” He slid closer to Kageyama, now pressing their legs together snugly. Kageyama couldn’t help the surge of happiness he felt at having Hinata’s full attention. ”I can’t believe you waited this long to tell me! What were they like?”

”He was about our age, and really rude… but he still let me stay with him for a while. He was a hardworking witch, though I think he didn’t want to let it on… He had a telescope, and a book where he would write down words in letters that I didn’t understand. He said that with the telescope, you can see the words written on the surface of the moon.” 

”No way…” Hinata breathed, his voice as quiet as a whisper. ”What’s written on there? Stories? Secrets?”

Kageyama cleared his throat awkwardly. ”He said I was… blind, to the more blatant kinds of magic. I think he thought me some kind of idiot.” 

At this, Hinata cracked another jovial laugh, tossing his head back and slumping against Kageyama’s shoulder, shifting a bit to Juliette’s annoyance. She stubbornly stayed on Hinata’s lap however, wrapping her tail a little more closely around herself. ”Of course he did…” he sighed and closed his eyes. 

”He said something about spells, but he wouldn’t go into detail about anything - he really was an asshole… If it hadn’t been raining then, I would’ve taken a look at the stars with the telescope myself…” Kageyama tore his eyes away from Hinata’s absurdly cute upturned nose, and looked up at the roof above them where big wet drops fell. ”If you ask me, he seemed a bit more infatuated with the stars… said something like, they were more interesting to him… always there, watching… what was the word he used…” Kageyama closed his eyes, trying to remember. ”… he said they were comforting.” 

”Comforting…” Hinata echoed.

Silence passed between them after that. It was getting darker and darker by the minute and the air was cooling significantly, but the heat from Hinata’s body bled right through Kageyama’s clothes and right into his very core. He hoped sincerely that this warmth would take root within him, so that he could carry it with him wherever he went. 

◊

They were putting their teacups away and cleaning up the mess they had left behind, to prepare for the morning to follow. Kageyama washed the soap off the dishes and handed them to Hinata, who wiped them dry with a cloth and amused himself with prodding Kageyama with little questions of nothings. 

”Kageyama, you never told me what your home was like,” Hinata nudged him with his elbow, digging into his arm sweetly, encouraging him to tell about it. 

”There isn’t much to say… it was a village, like this one. Nothing special.” Kageyama handed him a plate, careful not to let the wet porcelain slip. 

”Did you like it there?” Hinata wiped the plate absently, patiently looking at Kageyama with this look on his face that he always got when he wanted Kageyama to tell him stories. It was weirdly hard for Kageyama to say no to such a face, but he had a feeling that it had something to do with a low humming fear of that sparkle in his eyes fading out in disappointment. That spark in Hinata’s eyes - no, his spirit more accurately, was one Kageyama felt particularly weak for, maybe even drawn towards. It was a dangerous feeling, but he let himself give in for it every time. 

”I used to. It was nice, lots of cherry blossoms… I spent most of my time with my grandpa.” Kageyama felt the ghost of a smile on his face. 

”Your grandpa…” Hinata echoed faintly. ”Do you miss him?” 

Kageyama’s hands stilled. ”Yeah…” Kageyama watched the glittering water pour over the soapy porcelain. He did think about his grandpa very often, though he never spoke about him to anyone - mostly because he never stayed in one place long enough to have any reason to talk about his home. The people he had met had no faces in his mind anymore, they faded so soon after he left, even though they were kind to him. The places he had visited weren’t vibrant in his memory, even though he enjoyed being there. It was a strange feeling he had gotten used to, having a memory that is almost ghostly. Beside him, Hinata looked at him with the faintest furrow between his eyebrows, like he was thinking hard about something, too.

”Do you feel lonely, Kageyama?” He asked, simply, his voice quiet in the room. 

”I… Why do you ask so much about me?” Kageyama asked, before he even registered that the question was on his mind, passing the focus back to Hinata whilst also passing the last porcelain plate to him.  
”Huh?” Hinata’s face smoothed out again, the little furrow between his brows disappearing.  
”You usually ask about places I’ve been… but now it’s all about _me_ and stuff…”  
”Oh… sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” Hinata looked at him with a sort of sorrowful smile. He shook his head at him, putting down the last plate after swiping it lightly with the cloth. ”You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to, I was just curious about what your life was like, _before_ …” It was strange, how Hinata spoke. Kageyama wasn’t sure what sort of _before_ he was referring to, but he decided to let it slip away. 

”Well… probably not much different from yours…” Kageyama wiped his hands dry on a cloth. This was a blatant lie on Kageyama’s part. Kageyama spent his whole youth honing his magical abilities, always searching for the secrets written in his own palms with infinite curiosity and will to learn and improve. To this day he’s been searching for answers, for that next spark that’ll send something alight within him. There was always a hunger in his stomach, that yearned to be fed. To understand. And to continue. 

”I guess not,” Hinata sighed. ”I mean, you and I are pretty different, but also similar in many ways.” Hinata dried his hands on his pants, rubbing his palms and the back of his hands onto the fabric. 

”How?” 

”Well, I don’t want to be alone either.” Hinata looked at him as though this was a simple fact, something known between the two of them. Kageyama wasn’t sure if he confessed such a thing, being lonely, but he couldn’t deny that Hinata was right or not. 

Or maybe he just didn’t want to. 

◊

That night, Kageyama was laying very still under his covers, looking up at the ceiling above him. Hinata’s question still lingered in his mind. He hadn’t answered him, but he had a feeling that he couldn’t have, even if he wanted to. 

_”Do you feel lonely, Kageyama?”_

All these things that he tried not to think about slowly emerged from the depths of his heart as he lay there, feeling the weight of it more than ever before. He had always known that he was lonely. He had always been aware of how solitude was a choice he continued to make. Yet those words falling from Hinata’s lips crashed against his chest, harder and harder the more they echoed in his mind. Like the ocean waves on a wooden boat, brittle and thin, just an inch between him and the dark depths below.  
 _Do I feel alone?_

He wanted to say no. That with Hinata next to him, loneliness felt far away. That working with him during the day, and eating with him, fighting and playing with him, hearing his steady breath when he was asleep in the same room as him at night, made him feel as though he wasn’t alone. But what a scary thing that was to feel, when he knew what was coming. That he must leave, to never return to this feeling. 

Hinata shifted in his sleep, humming a low note as he settled into his pillow. Kageyama looked at him from across the dark room, wondering what Hinata would think of him if he found out that it was Kageyama who had stolen sunlight away from this place. His face was still, barely visible in the dark, and told him nothing about what he thought of anything. Kageyama thought how blessed he felt, that he had gotten to meet such an amazing person, who was kind and hard-working and ambitious, warm and beautiful all the way through - and it hurt so much to know that this will only be a memory to him one day. Would he remember the way his freckled nose turned up slightly at the end? How his eyes sparkled with something dangerous whenever they competed, and how his fringe poked into his eyes when it was wet? He wanted to remember the rough skin of his palms and how his clothes hugged his frame, as well as the warm beating feeling he felt in his chest after they raced home after running errands in the village. Would he remember any of it? Or would it all just be painful to remember, and fade away as he willed himself to forget, just like the rest of his memories? 

He begun to wonder about the things he wouldn’t ever know. Would he ever see him cut his hair with a pair of blunt scissors, or would he ever know how his arms would feel, wrapped tightly around him in a hug, or feel his lips against his own? If he stayed, would he ever know? 

An image appeared before him, of Hinata’s no longer tan skin, his freckles gone and faded, his hair oddly dull in colour. This image of Hinata looked tired, and didn’t have eyes that gleamed, or a smile that stretched cheek to cheek. Kageyama huffed, and tore his eyes away from Hinata’s sleeping frame, though the sad image lingered behind his eyelids. He wrapped himself into his covers tightly, as if to shield himself, as if he was freezing. 

Maybe it was time to leave, before that image sprung to life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is slightly shorter than the rest, but also more sad... I'm sorry about that! 💔 Next chapter comes soon!!


	5. Selfish and cruel, selfish and kind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so touched by all the kind comments... I'll get to them and reply as soon as I can!!! I've grinned like an idiot while reading then, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would get compliments for my writing... I cannot express my thanks enough!!! 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

◊◊◊

_Something about Kageyama wasn’t right. He was quiet. A different kind of quiet than before. The air around him was tense, and his eyes were soaked in worry - at least from what Hinata could tell from the few glimpses he got. Kageyama wasn’t quite meeting his gaze anymore. He wondered what had happened, for this shift in Kageyama to have happened._

_He shivered as he looked outside, and wrapped his hands around his teacup to warm them. The rain, and Kageyama, had been the biggest mystery in his life so far. They just appeared, so suddenly out of nowhere. He could still recall the feeling that ghosted over his tan skin that one evening, when the clouds rolled in from the horizon. Haunting, like an inevitable storm, but beautiful and exciting. But more so, he remembered the tall and apologetic man, with those sorrowful blue eyes, who so kindly asked him for help. Hinata wondered what had been so alluring about him, besides his peculiar image and timely arrival._

_He recalled pulling his curtains to the side to see Kageyama’s bowing frame as he leaned over his flowerbed, his black silky hair obscuring his face. It’s an image he just couldn’t rid from his mind, like the curiosity that had soared within him. Something about him had been just as exciting as the rain that he seemed to have brought with him. Just as beautiful._

_Kageyama sat silently in front of him now, looking out through the windows as well, just as peculiar as that first time he saw him. He had bloomed over the course of time he had been there, Hinata mused to himself. He had opened up one petal at a time, revealing something amazing, something heavenly and treasured. But looking at him now, his eyes so distant, his expression so broken, he feared that the flower he had grown so fond of might have begun to wilt._

_Hinata sighed. He knew better than most, that flowers bloom and wilt. Yet he still hoped that maybe this flower would stay in bloom, even for just a little longer._

◊◊◊

Kageyama weighed his wallet in his hand - It was heavy now, full of coins that Hinata had paid him for his work in the garden. He almost wished he hadn’t been paid anything at all, then he wouldn’t have been able to leave. It was true that he had been extra charitable with the money he had earned, spending it at a higher rate than he usually would. But there was no denying it now - his wallet was full, no matter how you looked at it. He sighed, and put the wallet safely in the inner pocket of his coat. He felt the fabric whisper under his touch, the comforting and smooth sensations glimmering where his hand met the enchanted seams. The magic in the air was strong today, he thought to himself. The smatter of rain outside seemed oddly gentle that morning, as if it gently sung for him. He sighed, again, as he opened the window to let its song into the room. The cool air that washed over him was fresh and clean, and he could feel the thunder that hung in the air, soon to split the sky. 

Hinata had already gone up before him, as per usual. And as per usual, there was a small breakfast by his bed. Today it was plums, matte and purple, but shimmering in shades of green. He was greedy for this kind of affection, in a way that was hard for him to accept. He adored every gesture of kindness Hinata had given him, and he wanted to give every bit of his own in return. But it was so hard to receive, let alone give back, when he this whole time have known that he shouldn’t get attached - though he had absolutely failed to avoid it. It had never been this hard before, to walk away. He bit into the sweet flesh, and the flavour reminded him of the jam Hinata put on his bread every so often. Would he always be reminded of that from now on, whenever he bit into a plum? Or would the flavour always disappoint, because they weren’t as sweet as the ones from Hinata’s garden? 

He couldn’t stomach another bite, and left the bowl by his bed. 

Even if Kageyama knew by now that it was time to leave, it proved much harder than ever before to follow through with doing so. That he _wanted_ to leave was definitely a stretch, he knew that very well, too. The warmth of Hinata’s home was as comforting as it could be, but its kindness had begun to sting. The curse he carried was still there, depressing the world around him - he simply couldn’t ignore that. The downpour was tearing on the land and it’s people… how selfish of him would it be to just let that continue, when he could do something to stop it. His own desires, his own wishes… why should he put them before anyone else’s. He had to sort this rain out before he could let other people in. 

He joined Hinata out in the garden - Hinata was shovelling the wet dirt with vigour, it was quite the sight to see the strong man work so hard for his garden. His arms were covered with dirt, and he smeared some onto his face as he attempted to wipe his wet hair out of his eyes. Kageyama wondered ifhe would ever cut his hair, or simply let it annoy him forever. 

”You’ll be cold,” Kageyama called. Hinata spun around to look his way, and his face broke into a wide smile. Kageyama placed his own gaze on the moon daisies growing to the side of him, unable to meet it. It was a curse in of itself, to be so taken by someone this way. 

”Good morning! Did you eat breakfast yet?” 

”I ate one plum,” which was only half a lie, as he had eaten half of one.

”Oh, that’s not nearly enough Kageyama! I’ll join you for breakfast, I’ll make scones!” 

”Haven’t you already eaten?” 

”Yeah, but I can go for another breakfast,” Hinata plunged his shovel into the dirt in one handsome swing and looked at his dirt-covered hands. ”I’ll have to clean myself first, I’ve got dirt under my nails…” 

”I can make scones while you do that, if you’d like…” 

”Yeah,” it didn’t matter that Kageyama wasn’t looking at him, he could hear the smile in Hinata’s voice, ”I would love that… I’ll be inside in just a moment.”

Kageyama wondered what the easiest way to tell Hinata that he needed to leave was. He could just be blunt, but he worried about hurting Hinata’s feelings. Of course, it didn’t matter what he did anymore, he would end up hurting his feelings no matter what… 

Oh how he hated to have gotten himself into this situation. 

Of course it was also a lie - he loved Hinata, and to have ended up in this situation was a blessing. He hadn’t known he was able to love again - even though he was terrified and sad about it being cut short. He hoped he would be able to carry some of that love with him, at the very least. Or did he want to leave it behind?

This was all so confusing… 

Hinata walked into the kitchen just as Kageyama pulled the scones out of the oven. He closed his eyes and breathed in the smell, rubbing his head with a towel to dry his hair from his shower. There wasn’t a trace of dirt on him now. 

”Amazing, Kageyama… it smells amazing…” 

”It’s your recipe…” 

”Hehe, I suppose,” he said with a calm breeziness in his voice. 

Kageyama looked at Hinata’s arms as he folded the towel messily and hung it over a chair. He could swear that Hinata’s skin was paler now than when they first met. Somehow, this was extremely heartbreaking to him. He remembered the image of Hinata that his mind hand conjured, the pale, freckle-less and faded Hinata. 

He shook the image out of his mind. He wouldn’t let this continue. He had to tell him, soon. 

”Here you go,” Kageyama put a plate with bread on it in front of Hinata’s usual seat - the scones steaming slightly, perfectly golden. Hinata thanked him, sweetly. 

They sat in silence for a long while, simply enjoying the stillness. Kageyama amused himself with watching the candle between them fickle in the draft from the window, trying to figure out a sentence that might convey what he wanted to say to Hinata, without hurting his feelings too much. However, it was Hinata’s gentle voice that broke the silence first. 

”Hey, uhm… theres something I’ve been wondering…” He glanced at Kageyama only for a second, before looking out the window. He seemed oddly apprehensive. ”Do you think… is it fun to be here? Or, maybe FUN isn’t the word I mean to use, but like… you know…” he sighed, a bit frustrated. Kageyama gave him the time he needed to form a satisfactory sentence - he knew all too well what comes out of his own mouth when he don’t think before speaking. ”I wonder… do you enjoy being here?” he said, finally, with a careful look at Kageyama. 

”… yes?” Kageyama struggled to understand what Hinata wanted to hear. It didn’t seem wholly satisfactory to Hinata, as his shoulders seemed to slump a bit. 

”Well, I know it’s not very exciting here or anything… it feels like all we do is drink tea, haha…” There wasn’t much joy in his laughter, and it made Kageyama slightly worried. 

”We do plenty more things. We work in your garden every day.” He pointed out to him. 

”Ah… yes, well…” Hinata seemed to struggle with his words again, he was rubbing his chin absentmindedly. It was so unusual to see Hinata so hesitant - he was usually so direct with Kageyama. _Something really must be mulling over in Hinata’s mind at the moment_ , Kageyama thought to himself. ”That’s exciting and fun to me, but… I mean… I’m just thinking about all the stories you’ve told me. They all seem so, _exhilarating_ , but I sometimes feel like I don’t have very much to offer you in terms of excitement…”

Kageyama felt his face turn into a scowl. Hinata was just about the most exciting person Kageyama had ever met, and the simple proposal of Hinata not having anything to bring to the table was just absurd. ”To me you are exciting.”

”Yes, but, maybe yeah, but…” gave a heavy sigh, seeming to not take Kageyama’s words to heart. Kageyama got the feeling that Hinata was skirting around a subject but not quite speaking it into existence, much to Kageyama’s annoyance. Kageyama tried to piece something together out of Hinata’s exasperated expression, but he didn’t find much. ”I’m just thinking about…” His voice faded away, as if they disappeared halfway to his lips. 

”What?”

Hinata looked at him with a tired look on his face. He turned his face away. ”Nevermind, I don’t know why i brought it up at all.”

Kageyama’s heart sunk a bit. ”Oh… right…” 

They sat in silence for a bit after that, though it didn’t feel as peaceful as it had before. The candle wax dripped down the candle, and slowly turned opaque. Hinata was looking at it too. Kageyama could tell that the warm flickering light in his eyes weren’t from within, but merely a reflection of the dancing flame. Behind the light from the candle, they were dull, submerged in thought. 

”Uhm… I’m sorry, if I’ve hurt your feelings…” he coaxed, his voice brought Hinata’s eyes back up to meet his own. A beat of silence passed between them, before Hinata spoke. 

”No, you haven’t…” he ran his fingers through his damp hair, closing his eyes. ”Look, it’s my fault for being vague about things… if I’m blunt, I wonder…” He paused, his eyes looked out into nothing, gathering something within himself. His chest seemed to swell as he took a deep breath, and his voice came out clear and strong. ”I sometimes wonder, about all the incredible things that are out there in the world… like the sea… and the deep, scary woods filled with things unseen to most… and the secrets of the sky, the patterns written in clouds and between stars… it’s all so amazing, and I think to myself, _I want it, too._ ” He looked at his own palms as he spoke, an intensity rising in his eyes once more, fiery and alight as they looked into Kageyama’s. ”And I look at you and I think… I think the same thing.” 

Kageyama forced himself to look back at the alight man in front of him. ”What do you mean…” 

”I mean… you have seen all these amazing things, and met all these amazing people. I want to be something amazing, too. Because I really do think you are amazing.”

Kageyama felt his face heat up. ”You say amazing a lot…” 

”Well, that’s your fault, for being amazing a lot,” Hinata smiled and picked up the little stack of letters that lay on the table to flip through them.

A sudden question popped into Kageyama’s mind, and just as suddenly it jumped out of his mouth, ”do you want to see the world?” 

Hinata stroked his chin, considering his question. ”Yeah, definitely, but…” He looked around the room, still holding the letters in his hands. ”I can’t leave this place yet. It means too much to me to leave it behind to be forgotten… I would need to leave it in good hands if that was the case, but right now…” a faint but oddly sorrowful smile fell over his face. ”Right now, this is home.” Kageyama nodded, thinking to himself that he understood very well. ”But one day I’m sure I will go out into the world and see some amazing things too! And eventually I’ll be amazing as well,” he said with determined finality in his voice and stuffed it full of scones. ”Oh! Look, Kageyama, you’ve got a letter here!” Hinata said, spitting some crumbs as he spoke and held up a brown envelope for Kageyama to see.

”What- a letter? From who?” Kageyama was utterly surprised - he hadn’t gotten a letter in years now, as he had no address. 

”Looks like it’s from Yachi maybe? I recognize the handwriting and,” he held it close to his face, ”the smell too, it smells like the pharmacy.” He held it out to Kageyama, who took it and stared at his name on the front. He felt oddly excited just holding it, wondering why Yachi would write to him of all people, him who she didn’t know very well. ”Kageyama, you’re supposed to _open_ letters… it’s what’s inside that’s interesting…”

”I know that!” Kageyama carefully opened it and pulled the paper out, with a message written on it in neat, clear writing. 

_Hello, Kageyama! I hope you are well. I would have walked to your and Hinata’s cottage to speak with you in person, but I thought writing like this would be more polite!_

_I wondered if you would like to stop by for tea with me? It is very exciting to meet someone who has_ similar skill _to me and Shimizu, as there aren’t many of us here in this little village._

_If you would like, you can meet me sometime after the pharmacy closes! We’re open to five every weekday. Shimizu says hello! Please say hi to Hinata for us!_

_Yachi Hitoka_

Kageyama read it a few times over, especially small parts that made him stumble over the words. _Similar skill_ was written with a certain weight to it, and he could only appreciate Yachi’s subtlety by avoiding mentioning magic, maybe worrying Hinata would read the letter too. 

The one he truly felt himself stuck on was the words _your and Hinata’s cottage_ and _home_. 

”What’s it say, Kageyama?” Hinata had already wolfed up his bread and was now curiously leaning over the table, trying to read the letter through the backside of the paper, but clearly struggled with the letters being backwards. 

”She invited me for tea… that’s very nice of her.” 

”Oh! That sounds so nice, you never come with when I go to see her!”

”Yeah… I don’t think you’re invited though, she only address me here… she says hi though.” 

”Whaat…” Hinata sat back in his chair, disappointed. ”It would’ve been fun if we all could hang out sometime, we should invite her here soon.” 

”Yeah…” Kageyama carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope, intending on keeping it with him. Maybe this was a good opportunity to talk to someone about his feelings, someone who knew Hinata well and could give advice. 

◊

”K-Kageyama, that is incredible!” Yachi covered her mouth as she watched Kageyama’s spell, dancing on his palm. A humble light, similar to the northern lights you would see high up in the mountains, was shimmering in cool colors in his hand, sparkling like starlight. It took great concentration to perform a spell such as this, and it was quite useless when it came to practicality - however, as a means to impress and showcase skill, it was an _excellent_ spell. And Kageyama was quite happy to impress Yachi, as an up and coming excellent witch. 

The tea Yachi had brewed was very different from Hinata’s, but not bad at all. It wasn’t sweetened with honey, but there were cookies, so Kageyama didn’t mind much. It was very pleasant to be in the back-room of the pharmacy, too. He enjoyed the magical feeling in the air there.

It was fun to play with sorcery, too, especially after keeping it hidden for so long. Of course he had continued to try harder spells when Hinata wasn’t around, but the secrecy of it all was very stressful and distracting. 

”I can’t do such spells, I’m too much of a newbie at this…” she shyly rubbed the back of her head, still following the little glow left behind in the air by Kageyama’s spell with her eyes. 

”It’s pure practice,” Kageyama reassured. ”You said you only recently became aware of being a witch, didn’t you…” 

”Y-yeah, I did! Just a year and a half ago!” Yachi clasped her hands together. ”When did you discover that you were a witch?”

”I didn’t. My sister did, when I was a baby. There’s many witches in my family…” 

”Woah, so early!” Yachi stirred her tea with her spoon, looking at Kageyama in awe. Kageyama faintly wondered why she was stirring, as there was no honey or sugar to dissolve. Maybe it was just to feel relaxed. ”No wonder you’re so skilled, you must have practiced a lot!” 

”Yes, my whole life. I want to improve and learn new things.”

”That’s really admirable… I want to improve too, which is why I’m being taught by Shimizu… she’s a great teacher,” she smiled sweetly, and cupped her hands around her cup of tea. ”I really appreciate having her in my life…”

Kageyama could see her getting along great in Hinata’s company, and understood she was nervous around him, as he and Hinata had a certain difference in tone… but, Yachi had explained that Hinata had spoken well of him, so she knew he was a kind person despite looking scary. She had also profusely apologised for calling him scary. Kageyama was pretty sure he liked her. 

”I had no idea that such an ordinary person like me could be special in any way at all, before I learnt there was magic within me to hone… it was Hinata who made me realize that I was magical! I’m very grateful to have him as a friend,” she chuckled. ”He convinced me that I could pursue something greater… he’s rather inspiring, isn’t he! And intense… Sometimes after I’ve spent time with him, I feel like I’ve been sitting in the sun for too long.”

”Mhm,” Kageyama agreed. He really liked that intensity about Hinata. ”He get this look in his eyes sometimes…” 

”Right! That super intense look, like nothing can stop him!” She smiled fondly. ”I wish I could be like that sometimes…”

A short beat of silence passed between them. ”I will be leaving soon, I think,” Kageyama said bluntly. 

”Oh, already?” Yachi looked at the clock that hung on the wall, sounding slightly surprised. 

”Leaving Plumvale.” 

”Plu- l-leaving?!” Yachi exclaimed. ”I thought you had moved in with Hinata permanently!!” 

”Oh-”

”I apologize!!” Yachi bowed her head so low that her fringe touched the table. ”I didn’t mean to assume what your relationship with Hinata was!! I’m very sorry!!” 

”I-It’s fine-!” Kageyama stuttered. ”Really, it’s fine…”

”Do you not like it here? Or is something else the matter?” 

”I really like it here. But I cannot stay… actually uhm… I wondered, uhm…” he tugged at the sleeves of his shirt, unsure of how he wanted to phrase this. ”I don’t know how to tell Hinata this… that I’m leaving soon. I don’t want to make him sad…”

Yachi stared at him with her bright brown eyes, and suddenly looked horrified. ”You- you’re telling another secret? To me of all people, too! Oh gosh, this is so much responsibility, are you sure you want my advice?!”

”You know Hinata well, right…?” 

”Ah, I suppose I do…” Yachi placed a hand on her bright red cheek, rubbing it slightly. ”Uhm, y-you’re worried that you’ll hurt Hinata’s feelings by saying you’ve got to go?” Kageyama nodded. Yachi started stroking her hair as she sunk into thoughts. ”Hmm… Hinata isn’t the type who would get sad over people doing what they need to be doing… he wouldn’t want to hold you back from what you wanted, I’m sure. He’s the type to want to run faster to catch up, rather than ask you to slow down, isn’t he?” 

Kageyama took a long sip from his tea, sinking into thoughts too. Perhaps it was true, that Hinata would take it well and not be sad at all. Maybe he would be super supportive, giving him the thumbs up and wishing him good luck on his journey ahead, to follow his dreams… but, then again, Kageyama didn’t _really_ want to leave. 

”Uhm…” Yachi timidly grabbed for Kageyama’s attention again. ”If you’re worried, uhm… maybe give him a gift of some sort?”

”A gift?” 

”Y-yeah! That way it could feel better for both of you!” She smiled. ”You could be reassured that Hinata has something to remember you by, and you don’t have to worry about leaving as much!” 

Kageyama stroked his chin, considering this. ”I like it… that would make it easier…” Yachi smiled brightly. ”What should I give him?” She faltered again, scratching her neck. 

”Uhm… isn’t it nice with gifts that you’ve made yourself? Maybe something magical, he really likes sorcery, and he’s very passionate about gardening..!” 

”Hm!” Kageyama nodded, enthusiastic. ”Would you help me, Yachi? I would be very grateful.” 

”A-are you sure, Kageyama? I’m not as skilled as you are, wouldn’t you come up with a much greater idea on your own?” 

”I’m sure.” Kageyama gave her a reassuring nod. ”You’re very creative, so I would appreciate the help.” 

Yachi blushed, and put her hands together in happiness. ”Yes… yes, okay!” 

◊

”I’m leaving…” Kageyama stared at himself in the mirror. His black hair laid flat over his head, but the little frown on his face was clearly visible, even behind his fringe. ”I must go soon…” His frown deepened. ”I should be moving on now…” He grimaced at himself. Why did he look so cruel when saying stuff like that? Was there no way to magically make his face look more pleasant? He tried to smile, ”I’ve got to go…” He shook his head, that one was definitely the worst one yet. He sighed, and washed in hands with a bit more force than necessary, and sent the soap skidding into the sink many times. 

Communicating complex things like this to Hinata was troublesome in so many ways. He _wanted_ to make it clear how he felt, but whenever he stood face to face with Hinata, it was like it was all blown away from him. 

”What were you mumbling about in there,” Hinata poked him in his sides as he stepped out of the bathroom, and quickly jumped back before Kageyama could grab him to get revenge. 

”It’s rude to listen in on people’s conversations.” 

”Wha- who were you talking to then?” Hinata smirked. 

”None of your business!” he huffed. ”Have you seen my gardening-gloves, they weren’t in the hallway…”

”Hmm… I can’t remember seeing them- oh!” He pointed behind Kageyama. ”There!” 

He turned and saw Juliette strutting by, one of Kageyama’s gardening gloves hanging from her mouth. 

”Juliette!!” Kageyama pointed at her too, accusingly. ”That’s mine!!” Juliette quickly ran up the stairs, but not before giving Kageyama a _very_ cheeky glance. ”Don’t get drool on them, Hinata gave me those gloves you little runt!!”

Hinata laughed jovially still when Kageyama finally came back down the stairs pulling both of his gloves onto his hands, followed closely by Juliette. She looked rather pleased with herself. 

”You know, I think she’s warming up to you!” He said, picking her up and nuzzling her long black fur. She purred and pawed at Hinata’s face affectionately.

” _Really,_ ” Kageyama said without concealing an ounce of his doubt.

”You know, she was very doubtful about me in the beginning! She wouldn’t let me pet her, or pick her up, and didn’t want to play with me at all… but over time she warmed up to me, and now we’re inseparable! I’m sure she’ll warm up to you too - I think she already has, but is stubborn about it.”

”Hmm… maybe…” Kageyama and Juliette looked at each other. Well, he supposed she didn’t _hate_ him. That was good enough for him, right now.

◊

Normally when he and Hinata worked in the garden, Kageyama could let his mind wander freely, let it fly into a calm nothing, in a way that was very pleasant. He would forget about the time passing by, forget about where he was, and the world around him at large. All that existed was his hands meeting the soil, caressing leaves and roots and petals, and the smell of nature. It was a meeting that to him was very similar to how he met sorcery. Then, too, he would be focusing hard on his craft, studying languages and patterns and finding focus, and forget the world around him as he did so. It was calming, and refreshing… 

But right now, it was hell. 

He couldn’t focus at all. Water kept dripping over his brow, and a really cold one had landed right on his neck and down inside his coat, it was extremely unpleasant. It didn’t help that he was still worrying about how to talk to Hinata about his departure - it was gnawing at him, grating at his mind. Why was everything so difficult! Even the plants that he and Hinata were replanting into bigger pots were being difficult. Nothing seemed to work well for him today. 

”Kageyama, you look sick, are you trying to think too hard again…” Hinata bent down to catch Kageyama’s eyes.

”Yes- no, uh, I’m… I don’t know.” He slumped a bit, and wiped his fringe away - ah, now there was dirt on his forehead too, wasn’t there… ”I’ve got too many thoughts in my head at once…”

”Oh,” Hinata smiled, and Kageyama could just tell that there was a joke going on somewhere in Hinata’s head. However, he seemed to have decided not to tell this joke aloud. ”What’s on your mind, then?” 

Kageyama glanced at him. Maybe it would be easier to talk to him like this, while they were busy with their hands in the soil and Hinata wasn’t directly in his field of view, but beside him and looking at something else. He gathered himself for a second, and decided to try. 

”Uhm… if you think, hypothetically, that there was two things that you wanted, but they contradict each other, so you _had_ to choose. And, the thing you really want is a very selfish thing to pick.”

”Why is it selfish?” Hinata rubbed his cheek with his dirty hand, smearing dirt onto his face. At least Kageyama wasn’t alone in that regard. 

”It would be selfish, because… it would make people sad. And then I would be sad too…”

”Okay… what about the other option then?”

”The other option would also make people sad, and is also selfish in a way, but it’s also the option you kind of _have_ to pick.” 

Hinata looked at him, utterly befuddled. ”Kageyama, that’s so confusing… if the second option is what you have to pick, then why is the first option there at all?” 

”It’s there because it’s what you probably want the most, but it’s selfish.” 

”But the second one was selfish too, so what’s the difference? What’s wrong with being selfish, anyway,” Hinata shook his head at Kageyama, as if he was being entirely unreasonable. Kageyama scowled - he thought he was approaching this pretty well? Maybe it was slightly confusing to try to talk about it in a hypothetical way…

”If you only care about what you yourself want, you’re being selfish, and that’s bad. I don’t think that’s a strange thing to say.” 

”Doesn’t that depend on what it is that you want? If you want bad things then yeah, maybe selfishness is bad, but if the things you want aren’t bad, then there’s no reason to be so worried. I’m selfish sometimes, and I don’t think that’s bad of me, I think it’s normal,” Hinata pressed the dirt around the flower he just replanted carefully, and reached for the next one. Kageyama stared at him. _Selfish? Hinata?_ _No, that’s not right at all._ Actually, it kind of pissed him off that Hinata would say that. _Kageyama_ was selfish. _He_ had stolen sunshine away from this beautiful place, from this beautiful person, _purely_ because of his own feelings and wants. 

”To me you’ve been charitable, Hinata.” His voice came out gruff and serious. ”You let me sleep here, and paid me for my work, and… and you’ve fed me, too! And every morning you put food next to my bed, and clean clothes - I never asked you to do that! You should have woken me up and told me to get to work, too, but you let me sleep in instead, and on top of everything you’ve given me gifts. That’s _kind_ , Hinata.” 

Hinata only smiled, and it seemed to just grow wider as Kageyama spoke. Seriously, he was getting on Kageyama’s nerves. 

”Yeah, but kindness and selfishness can go together, right? I want you to sleep well, and I want you to eat well. I want you to feel good. And I want you to know that when you wake up and I’m not there in the room, that I still thought about you and said good morning. And I want you to be happy. In the end, I wouldn’t be doing any of that if it for some reason made me feel bad about myself. But I do all that because I consider your comfort and happiness mine, too, and not because anyone asked me to. I’m not a gardener because the plants asked me to take care of them, and I graciously agreed… I do it because I want to. Because it brings me joy. Of course there are many reasons for doing things, but that’s a big one for me at least, to indulge in my selfishness.” 

Kageyama wasn’t sure what to say. Never once had he considered such a thing, it sounded almost absurd. A strange concept that seemed to contradict itself, a weird horror that Hinata _somehow_ made into sense.

”So anyway, if you want to be selfish then why not? If you’re being bad about it people will call you out on it anyway, so I don’t really see the problem in your either-or situation. But you _are_ being totally vague, so it could be that too. I don’t really get why you’re speaking all hypothetically and imaginatively…” 

Kageyama sat back onto his heels and looked up at the sky, watching the solid wall of clouds above, listening to the murmur of water underneath the dirt they sat on. He stared, as if the sky would give him some understanding of the war that was going on within him. Which part of him was prevailing? Which part of him was surrendering? But he already knew, that his affection for the man next to him was soaring.

”My two options are staying, and leaving…” he said, trying to find a place somewhere in the clouds where he could fix his gaze, but the grey color was completely solid and unchanging. ”I actually never intended to stay here for as long as I have… truthfully, I never intend to stay anywhere. It’s not an option at all…” For some strange reason, his throat felt very tight suddenly. He forced himself to speak anyway - there was no way he was going to back down now, when he finally had begun. His voice came out taut and distressed. ”But for some reason, even though there isn’t an option to stay, I want there to be…”

He felt a warmth fall over his right side, as Hinata shifted closer to him. ”Why wouldn’t there be…? ” His voice was soft, confused. 

”It’s a selfish choice, that I cannot make.” He dared give Hinata a glance, dared look Hinata in the eyes. He sat so close, he could count each and every freckle still adorning his face. There was something dangerous welling up inside of him, something bursting at the seams as it pushed upwards. ”I am cursed. It’s raining here, because of me.”

Hinata’s expression was so horribly unreadable. ”Cursed?”

”Yes, cursed. The rain that’s been falling here since my arrival, it follows me wherever I go. It hangs not only over me, but everything around me, like a plague upon the land and its people.” Whatever was pouring out of him seemed to only go faster and wilder, pushing through every little crack it could find. It burned behind his eyes, threatening to spill over if he wavered only slightly. He had not expected to feel so intensely, so suddenly. ”It’s the reason why I cannot stay. I want to break this curse so bad, I want to make it go away, but _I don’t know how_. It’s so frustrating… So there’s nowhere I can stay, without this spell welling over onto others. I can’t take sunlight away from the people I care about, too, it would be selfish and cruel, and I don’t want to be selfish and cruel. So I have to go,” he found Hinata’s gaze once more, having lost it in the flood that was surging out from within him, ”and break the curse, so I can find a place to stay, without harming it in doing so.”

Silence followed, filled only by the sound of rain around them. Hinata’s gaze was unyielding as he stared into Kageyama’s eyes - what he was searching for within them, Kageyama had no idea. 

”Who cursed you,” he asked, with a voice so still and calm it was almost frightening. 

”It… it was self-inflicted…” His own voice felt distant and far away, as if he was hearing himself through a wall. He never thought he would ever say those words, where someone could hear him. It was strangely amazing to him, how easily they spilled from his lips. He never told _anyone_ before.

”I don’t know how curses work at all,” he said, the edges around his voice softening. ”But, if it was you who cursed yourself somehow, couldn’t that one thing to break the curse be with you, too?” He placed the back of his dirt-covered hand on Kageyama’s chest, and he marvelled at how the cold fear in his skin simply disappeared with that gentle touch, and eased the pressure that built inside of him. The words washed over him, but didn’t seem to stick. He wasn’t sure he understood what Hinata meant at all. 

”Are you not… angry, or disappointed?” He was surprised by how small his own voice sounded, but he did feel kind of small right now. Hinata was still so close to him, a strange calm about him fell over Kageyama as he looked at him and made him relax, just slightly. 

”Why would I be angry with you…” His strong hand was now on his shoulder, his thumb soothingly rubbing into his skin. 

”Well… I’ve been hiding this from you. I thought you would feel betrayed, knowing I was the source of all this…”

Hinata shook his head. ”I feel happy that you told me something like that. I don’t feel betrayed at all… well,” a little smile creeped onto his face, ”maybe a little - I wish I had known you were a witch! Though maybe it is kind of obvious that you are… I’m not so surprised actually.” Hinata looked at him with nothing but fondness on his face, silent for a short moment. ”My answer is still the same… I think you should be selfish, if you want to.”

”But then you’ll never see sunlight again!” Kageyama bit his tongue, feeling his throat suddenly burn. ”Or the moon, or the stars, they’ll be gone forever… your garden will drown, and you’ll be sick again, and your freckles will fade away and-”

”Kageyama,” Hinata placed his hand on Kageyama’s cheek, so kindly and gently it made Kageyama’s insides ache. He didn’t care that they were covered in dirt or soaked - his warm kind touch meant everything to him in this moment. ”They’re not _gone_. There’s still daylight every day, and every night the moon and the stars shine in the sky, behind the clouds. They’re still there.” He looked utterly heartfelt now, letting his hand travel down Kageyama’s arm to take hold of his pale one. ”I of course won’t keep you here if you want to go - it is your choice. But don’t underestimate me, I think I’ve proven myself capable of putting up with you, _and_ your curse, pretty well. And I’ll always be here.” 

Kageyama opened his mouth to speak, but found that he couldn’t let his voice out. He settled for a nod, hoping Hinata would understand the reason for his silence. 

He probably did, because he stayed nestled close to him for the rest of their time outside, listening to the rumble of thunder coming from the distance as they finished repotting. 

Kageyama made up his mind. He would leave in a few days. This time, it was a certainty. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waahhh, I'm excited for the next chapter...!! I hope you will like it!!


	6. The road and the home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is sort of the final chapter, but there will be an additional one after this!! Just to wrap things up further, because I want to 🌻  
> I hope you will enjoy this conclusion!!

◊◊◊

_Somewhere in his heart, he had hoped he could change Kageyama’s mind._

◊◊◊

Kageyama dreamt of something beautiful… something warm and radiant, just an inch away from his outstretched hand that tried and failed to catch the little light dancing in front of him. A firefly, perhaps… or a flame from a candle… but it was nimble and fickle, and kept slipping away from him. But discouragement took no hold of him - he ran after it, chasing the bright figure, faster and faster. His heart was leaping with every stride, and carried him as if he was weightless, so close to catching up. So close he could feel the warmth on his skin so vividly. 

”Kageyama…” 

He forced his eyes open, and peered up at Hinata’s face, so close to his own. It was disorienting to look at, but through his blurred vision he could still see the lively spark dancing in Hinata’s brown eyes, as if his dream had faded into reality. He almost wanted to shield his eyes when Hinata’s face broke into a sweet smile upon seeing him awake. But of course, he couldn’t look away. 

”Wake up, Kageyama… I’ve got lots of stuff to show you today, so wake up,” came his quiet voice, his hand gently ghosting over Kageyama’s collarbone, rousing him from sleep. 

”I am awake…” he rubbed his eyes and peered towards the window, smeared with rain as always. The clouds were faintly blue, almost lilac. ”It’s early morning…” 

”Yeah, it’s early morning… I picked these for us,” Hinata gestured vaguely at the bedside-table, where red berries laid in a white porcelain bowl. ”They’re the first ripe strawberries this year… I want to eat them with you, while they’re freshly picked.” 

Kageyama pushed himself up and looked at the berries, glistening and shiny from the rain, their leafy crowns still adorning them. 

”You always get up _this_ early?” 

”I always wake up by sunrise,” Hinata held the bowl between them, so they could share. ”And I get sleepy by sunset… so in winter I sleep a lot.” 

Kageyama felt his brown eyes on him as he took a strawberry and placed it on his tongue, the initial tart sweetness of it was almost too much for the first bite of food for the day. 

”Is it sour?” Hinata asked, worriedly. 

”… no, it’s very sweet…” the longer it sat on his tongue the sweeter and richer the flavour was. He felt a strange nostalgia, though he couldn’t put his finger on a certain memory - but the comforting feeling was there. 

”Oh, okay, good,” Hinata then took one, too. 

”… did you just want me to test if they were good to eat…”

Hinata laughed, and shook his head. ”No, I’m just excited to share this moment with you, and I wanted it to be good… my strawberries always ripen later than most, but I often hear that they’re very sweet. But I did maybe slightly worry that the lack of sunlight on these would have some sort of affect on them.” He plopped a large one into his mouth and chewed, his expression pleased. ”I do pride myself on my sweet strawberries, after all. But I guess I didn’t have to worry, in the end.”

”… maybe your kind hand plays a bigger part in your gardening than you think.” Kageyama plucked the small green leaves off his strawberry, one at a time, before eating it. Hinata somehow made an audible ”?” noise through his mouthful of strawberries, and cocked his head not too unlike a puppy. ”Well… I’m pretty sure any garden would have been washed away by the rain by now, but yours hasn’t.”

”Well, yes of course! I’m a gardener, that’s what I do,” Hinata said proudly. ”I wouldn’t call it a ’kind hand’ though, people usually call that having a green thumb, Dummy-yama.” 

”I thought it sounded nice…” 

”Hmm… I suppose it does sound nice… sorry I called you Dummy-yama when you were being kind, Nice-yama.” 

”Idiot,” Kageyama tousled Hinata’s hair fondly, who only welcomed the touch, bowing his head down to let Kageyama stroke it back into place again. They looked at each other for a moment, basking in the simple presence of one another. ”Did you say you had things you wanted to do today?”   
”Oh! Yes, when you’ve eaten breakfast and gotten dressed, I want to take you outside into the garden with me! I’m gonna brew tea downstairs, but I also got you some cold milk, I think it goes well with the strawberries,” Hinata took Kageyama’s hand and gave it a mild press, before getting up to leave the room. ”I’ll see you in a bit!” 

Kageyama calmly kept eating the strawberries while putting on the soft blue dress-shirt Hinata had placed on his covers for him, and thought about if there were any last forms of kindness he could give Hinata before he departed. It was strange now, to talk to Hinata. Different. But not bad. He had not anticipated that after speaking of how he felt, his curse and his thoughts of leaving, that his chest would feel lighter. Hinata didn’t become angry with him, or scared, or anything else he had feared. He felt more-so that Hinata had become closer, more daring, more blinding. A kindness and comfort that seemed to envelop his heart made it easier to speak, and easier to accept. Still, a cold spark rested deep within him, like a snowflake that refused to melt.

He also thought about how Hinata was right - milk did go extremely well with the strawberries. 

◊

Hinata was beautifully dressed in a midnight-blue coat that shimmered slightly if you looked close enough. He had begged and begged Kageyama to speak the same spell into it as he had to his own black coat (and had him convinced the first time he asked - Kageyama simply found his begging amusing). Kageyama had of course argued that Hinata most likely wouldn’t have much need of this spell once Kageyama left, however it didn’t seem to matter much to Hinata. He had watched him closely, completely enraptured by the spell-making Kageyama performed in front of him. His hands caressed the fabric as he spoke the spell, weaving it into the web of thread, sealing it with whispers and words spoken so faintly they could hardly be heard. It meant something special to Kageyama, to give something back to Hinata, even if it was only a simple spell onto a simple piece of clothing. He had given Kageyama so much, after all. The water now landed in beautiful pearls onto his shoulders and, glistering, they slid down the silky whispers of a spell, down to the hem and dripped onto the ground, keeping him dry and warm.

They avoided the little puddles that had formed in the gravelled path of the garden, as frogs had taken them as their home. They croaked in sing-song voices as they passed, in rhythm with the little splashes they made while jumping away. 

”When I was outside this morning,” Hinata said as he reached for Kageyama’s hand, ”I saw that the sunflowers have bloomed, and I thought of you.” 

”They have?” Kageyama let Hinata take his hand, enjoying his warm dry skin against his own. ”I really want to see what they look like.” 

”I thought you would! I remember you being curious about them, and asked me to draw one for you! I must admit, they look more impressive in real life, my drawing wasn’t very good…” 

”I liked it. I’m not very good at drawing either… but probably not as bad as you though.” 

”You’ll have to prove that to me before I believe it,” Hinata smirked. ”Ah, here they are.” 

Before them stood the tall tall stalks of the flowers Kageyama had asked Hinata about a long time ago. They were much much taller and thicker now, with big greenleaves fanning out from it. But now, at the top of the tallest stalk, bloomed a large, warmly yellow flower, much bigger than Kageyama had anticipated. The rays of golden petals blooming out from the centre did indeed stir memories of sunlight inside of Kageyama, it reminded him very much of the days he spent outside practicing magic some many years ago. 

”I like it…” he said, and found that Hinata was looking at him with something akin to radiance. 

”Right? I think they’re my favourites!” 

”Hmm, you look kind of similar…” Kageyama looked between him and the flower, comparing the silhouette of the flame-like petals to the tousled hair on Hinata’s head. ”Except the flower is taller than you… so you lose to a plant, Hinata.” 

”Hey! It’s taller than you too, so you lose as well!” 

”Hmm, so it’s a draw then…” Kageyama admired it for awhile longer, thinking it was a very beautiful and inspiring plant. He felt Hinata’s hand gently squeeze his own, and warmth flooded his chest. ”I’ll miss you, I think…”

”I hope you’re talking to me and not the sunflower, Kageyama…” Hinata teased. ”You look totally in love with it!” 

Kageyama looked down at Hinata, whose devilish smile changed into something more clement once their eyes met. ”Maybe,” he felt himself smile around the word. 

◊

”Juliette, please level with me here…” 

Juliette looked at Kageyama in a way that said _I am utterly unimpressed by your efforts_. She sat on the wardrobe, looking down at him as though they were royalty and peasant. 

”I know it’s silly, okay…” He threw a glance over his shoulder to make sure Hinata wasn’t within earshot. ”… but I think he would appreciate it… listen,” he held up the small little parcel between his index-finger and his thumb, so Juliette could see it properly. She looked between it and Kageyama’s pleading face. Inside was the gift he had made, with Yachi’s exemplary help. ”If I give this to him, that’s embarrassing. But if _you_ give it to him, that is endearing.”

Juliette’s tail swished from side to side, as if to express her disinterest. 

”Juliette… I know you’re hesitant about me… it’s not without good reason… but we have something in common…” Juliette licked her paw, looking as though she wasn’t listening. ”We both love Hinata.” 

Juliette looked at him, her ears pointing in his direction. Kageyama took this as them being on some level of understanding - this was something they both could agree on. 

”Yes, see? We’re not enemies… we both want the same thing. So, what do you say…? Do you want to help me or- _oof_ -” Kageyama nearly dropped the parcel as Juliette suddenly leapt from the top of the wardrobe right onto his chest, and he scrambled to get a hold of her so she wouldn’t fall. ”Juliette! Aren’t you an old lady? Be careful!” 

She climbed up on his shoulder and sniffed his ear, tail swishing in his face. 

”I suppose that wasn’t a very kind thing to say… I apologize…” Juliette came around this other shoulder and looked curiously at the parcel, and Kageyama held it up for her to inspect. ”I just wanted to give him something nice… it’s a good compromise, don’t you think? This way he has something that is mine that he can keep if he wants to, so he won’t be sad when I leave- ow!” 

Juliette bit him on his ear, and jumped off of him as Kageyama flinched. Her gaze was cold and accusing as she sat down on his bed, tail swishing once more. 

”Don’t tell me you don’t want me to leave… don’t you miss the sun?” Her tail settled, wrapped close around her paws where she sat. ” _See_ … look, you shouldn’t give it to him now. You should give it to him when I’m gone already. It’s not that I don’t think I could handle giving it to him, not at all, so you don’t have to look at me like that.” He held the parcel out, making sure the string tying it together was easy for her to grab with her sharp white teeth. ”I just think it’s better that way… so please take care of this for me…” 

Juliette gave him one long, piercing look. Kageyama was pretty sure there was a warmth in her pale green eyes, a sort of acceptance of him. She pressed her wet black nose onto his finger before grabbing the strings with her teeth, jumping off the bed, and trotting off. 

Kageyama gave a deep sigh. How sad was it, that he was going to go so soon after becoming friends with her. 

◊

”That’s a shame, Kageyama,” Daichi patted him on the back. ”And here I thought we finally had someone who could keep up with Hinata. Are you sure he’ll be fine on his own?”

”He’s managed to survive this long…” 

”Hey! That’s mean, Kageyama!” Hinata aimed a poke towards Kageyama’s side, but Kageyama caught his hand before he got close enough. ”Shouldn’t I be the one to say that to you, you can hardly cook without me helping you! How will YOU be fine on your own!” 

”I’m complimenting you,” he grabbed for Hinata’s other hand to, noticing he had winded up for a second attack. 

”You don’t make it sound like it when you say it like that though,” Hinata lifted his foot to somehow attack Kageyama with it, but after catching sight of Daichi’s expression quickly stopped struggling with Kageyama. Daichi gave a deep sigh, as if simply watching them was tiresome. Maybe it wasn’t the right time and place to wrestle, in the middle of Daichi’s shop. 

”Well, I’m glad you’re in good spirits. Especially you, Kageyama. Shimizu asked me last week if you were doing fine, she said she saw you walk through town looking ill.”

”He just looks like that when he’s thinking too hard-” Hinata quickly ducked as Kageyama made to grab for his head. He just barely missed. 

”I hope you don’t mind, Kageyama, but I took the liberty of getting some food for you, that’ll last a journey,” he placed a paper bag of goods in his arms, before anyone could make any argument against it. ”I would hate for you to go hungry, especially since I assume Hinata has spoiled you rotten with cooking.” 

”I… uhm… Thank you for looking out for me, Daichi.” Kageyama gave a small bow, clearly very touched by the gesture by the sound of his voice.

”Oh,” Daichi smiled, surprised. ”No problem! I’m happy, really… Ah, it is a shame though, I was getting used to seeing you two together, joined at the hip. You’ll have to come back one day,” Daichi gave Kageyama another rough pat on his back, ”so I don’t have to worry about you.” 

”Kageyama, you’re so polite!” Hinata said in awe. ”Long gone are the times you treated me with the same respect… A whole half day after he arrived at my door, that’s how long he lasted before calling me an idiot.” Hinata shook his head, fake disappointment on his face.

”That’s because you say things like ’a whole half’…” 

Daichi sighed again - but there was a definite smile on his face, despite this being a goodbye. 

◊

”What, you knew all along, Yachi?!” Hinata stared between the two of them, Kageyama looking very neutral and Yachi looking both embarrassed and joyous. 

”Y-yeah! I couldn’t tell you, but I felt magic for the first time when I shook hands with Kageyama! That’s how I found out about it!” Yachi’s cheeks was bright red, as she held her hands up to Hinata. 

”What, really? That’s amazing!” Hinata took them into his own and inspected them closely, as if he would be able to see anything at all magical about them. 

”Mmh! I think it’s because Kageyama’s a very skilled witch with very strong magic about him, that I could tell… but I can feel Shimizu’s magic too now, so I’m improving!”

Hinata threw Kageyama a nasty glance. ”I guess you win by default, Kageyama, I don’t know how compete with something I don’t have…” 

”That makes 97 wins for me and 93 for you, right?”

”Ugh, don’t remind me,” Hinata held a hand over his face in shame. ”Don’t think I’ll let you walk away with more wins than me, I’ll make sure to beat you a few more times before then!”

”I look forward to seeing you try,” Kageyama gave him a nasty smile. 

Yachi held her hands together, a little smile on her face. It widened as they both looked at her.

”Ah, it’s just so nice to see you get along… it makes me very happy,” she grinned.

Shimizu walked into the pharmacy from the back door - the same door from where Yachi had shyly appeared during Kageyama’s first visit. In her hands was a small package, wrapped in brown paper and coarse thread. She smiled to the three of them, as serene and calm as always. 

”Thank you for being patient, Kageyama.” She handed him the package, and he could immediately tell that there was a spell over it. Her smile widened too, noticing the spark in Kageyama’s eyes. ”It’s enchanted to withstand the rain, for a while. There’s medicine, in case you get a cold like Hinata.” 

”Thank you,” Kageyama bowed to them. ”I’m very grateful to have met the two of you.”

”We’re happy to have met you too,” said Yachi, her eyes glossy with tears. ”I uhm… I have a charm for you, Kageyama, uhm… it’s nothing amazing, surely nothing you couldn’t do yourself, but…” she fumbled a bit inside her pocket and fished out a wooden charm, very similar to the one she had made for Hinata a long time ago. ”I still wanted to make you one, anyway!”

Kageyama felt it in his hands, and looked closely at the carefully carved symbols. This one was very light, and felt soft and kind against his hand. Hinata had given him a very brief course in the language, but it was still hard to understand. 

”… sa… uhm, that one means safe, right…?” 

Hinata leaned close and looked at the charm. ” _Safe journey_! And if you flip it… that’s the symbol for _home_ , isn’t it? That’s so thoughtful, Yachi!” 

”Thank you, Yachi. I will keep this with me.” 

”You’d better, or else who knows where you’ll end up!” Hinata teased. 

Yachi beamed at them, her eyes still shiny and bright. Shimizu placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and they shared a nod with one another. This was a very kind farewell. 

◊

The old suitcase Kageyama had carried with him for so long stood packed in the hallway, ready to be picked up and carried away. Kageyama buttoned his silky white dress-shirt up all the way up to the collar - it was as clean as the day he arrived. He hadn’t worn it once during his time in Hinata’s cottage, as it was way too pretty to be worn during their long hours out in the rain and dirt. It felt strange on his skin now - he had gotten used to the older, coarser fabrics of the clothes Hinata lent him. He would miss the feeling. 

He looked around the room, taking it in one last time. He remembered when the room had been riddled with pillows and blankets and playing cards when Hinata was sick, and he remembered when Juliette spooked him awake his first morning here. He couldn’t help but smile a little. These would be fond memories. 

”Have you got everything?” Hinata poked his head into the room, his hair as tousled as ever. 

”I think so…” 

”Good,” he smiled, and opened the door wider, so Kageyama could see all of him. ”Cause if you forget anything here, I’m definitely keeping it!” 

How strange he felt. He had done this many times throughout his life, and never had he felt this way. But of course, those times he wasn’t leaving someone like Hinata behind. He almost wished he could pack Hinata into his suitcase, but he wouldn’t fit in it. 

They looked at each other, Kageyama one step out of the door. Rain fell onto his shoulders, as familiar as ever. Hinata watched his face closely, just ass thoroughly as the very first time they had met. The air was tense and warm around them, and Kageyama wondered what was going through Hinata’s mind. He seemed to be so many things at once… sad, happy, frustrated… it was very hard to read his expression. He suspected his own face was pretty hard to read, too. He wasn’t even sure exactly what he felt. There were many feelings, melting together into one great, calm pool in his chest.

”Don’t forget about me, ok.” Hinata’s eyes were burning, staring intensely into Kageyama’s - it was a challenge, like the many ones before. Kageyama looked at the warm brown color in them, and took in the freckles on his cheeks, and the slightly varying shades of orange in his hair. 

He was very certain that he would never forget. 

”Okay.” 

”Good,” Hinata nodded. ”Cause I’ll never forget you.” 

”Okay…”

He unfolded his umbrella. The rain tapped onto it, as if it greeting him. How strange it felt, to walk away from a place that was so close to feeling like home. He felt okay though, in this moment. He knew that soon the sun would peek through the clouds and shine once more onto this place, and bring it back to life. It’s what he wanted.

_The road was a companion in of itself_ , he thought with comfort. It would always be there, he hoped, to help him move forward. _Everything would be okay_. _Just focus on the road, and move forward._

”Kageyama!!” 

He turned around to see Hinata, standing barefoot in the dirt. He looked as though set alight. 

”I just want you to know, that we will meet again!! Even if it takes ten years, or twenty, just know that we will! So if- if you never come back, that's fine, cause then I’ll come find you when I’m ready to leave this place, even if it's on the opposite side of the world!!”

Kageyama stared at Hinata. Wow, he almost felt like crying… his heart was soaring with joy. 

He nodded. There was no reason for him to disbelieve him. Hinata gave him one last smile, nodding too. 

This was a promise. 

The road would always be there, he hoped, to help him move forward. But, if he ever found himself lost, then…

◊

◊◊◊

◊

Strange. Everything felt strange. 

There were thoughts and feelings swirling inside of him, that he could not wrap his head around. It was like a chafe had appeared, except inside his head, and it was extremely distracting. 

Was this loneliness? It was awful. _Well_ , Kageyama thought, _it's not like the feeling is new_. But it was louder, and more annoying than ever. Water kept making its way into his shoes - did it always do that? And his hands were awfully cold, no matter how many times he pressed his lips against them and spoke a spell onto the pale skin. 

Hinata’s hand in his would’ve warmed it up immediately. 

And there was that feeling again. Like loneliness, but _louder, and more annoying than ever._

Darkness slowly fell around him, and yet there was no town nor village anywhere in sight. There was however a shed nestled in the corner of the meadow next to him, which looked awfully old and deserted. If he was willing to brave a hoard of nettles to get to it, it would do well as a place to sleep for the night. 

Kageyama wondered how he had put up with this sort of thing for so many years. His ankle was itching and stinging after a nettle graced it, and he was shivering as he huddled himself into a pile of hay, still dry even though the rain was pouring outside. It was loud and hissed in his ears, making him wonder if it was intent on making him as uncomfortable as possible. Just how spoiled had he gotten? _Stupid Hinata. This was all his fault._

He sunk deeper into the hay, pulled his coat over his face, crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, determined to sleep. 

He tried very hard to think of boring things, to distract himself from his cold hands, the drip drop of water leaking through the ceiling, and the itching on his ankle. But soon he fell to sleep, thinking of his warm eyes… the way his laughter made his heart jolt… his hands as he pulled through the soil, strong and loving for his craft… the hum of a song, as he fried eggs in the morning, his voice sounding squeaky- 

Wait, squeaky? Hinata wasn’t squeaky at all… his voice was nice, and comforting and… there it was again, that squeaky sound. Hinata wouldn’t make a sound like that… sure, he could be loud and shrill, but he wouldn’t _cheep_ like this…

Kageyama pried one eye open, faced with the inside of his own coat. Something was making tiny little peep-noises, like the hinges of a door or something. He lifted his coat off his face and saw, nestled between his arm and chest, an orange striped cat, having forced itself into the little space between his waist and his elbow. 

”Oh…” he said, staring at its pale blue eyes. It was rather small, but perhaps not a kitten anymore. It stared at Kageyama and nestled deeper into the crook of his arm. ”Hey- hey you’re all wet, kitten…” it peeped at him, and didn't seem to care much about his complaint. ”You’re hiding from the rain too, huh… so am I…” 

He carefully held a finger up to its face, which the cat sniffed, carefully bit, and then rubbed its head against with affection. It was rather cute, Kageyama thought. 

"Maybe this is your home, and I walked in here without permission… I apologize, kitten…” He stroke its little head with his finger, which made it purr and push towards his hand. It wasn't very pleasant, as its fur was wet and slightly dirty, but Kageyama didn't mind much. ”I hope you don't mind if I stay here a little while…” The cat squeaked and licked his finger. It didn't feel very nice at all, its tongue was all coarse, but he let it keep doing it for a little while. 

Looking out through the broken windows, he saw it was almost morning. He felt at least slightly rested, but he knew he would have felt much better if he had slept in a bed. The hay was itchy and uncomfortable. He laid in half-slumber for an hour or so, waiting for more light to pour in from the windows, before deciding enough was enough. He looked at the cat still sleeping in the crook of his arm, and wondered if it was ok to wake it up. Would it hate him if he did?

”Hey, kitten… I’ve got to go now…” he carefully stroked its ear with his finger, and it flicked under his touch. ”If you get off of me you can continue sleeping…” he slowly sat up, and stared at the cat as it fumbled to its feet, suddenly very awake. It kept squeaking at him as he patted the hay off of himself - he couldn’t figure out why it was being so loud and talkative with him. Animals usually didn't like him very much, so this was strange to him. Maybe it thought he was a nice person, cause he smelled like Hinata's cottage still. 

”Goodbye, kitten.”

He stepped outside into the rain once more, looking over the misty meadow. It was quite beautiful, but the air was very wet. His pants got completely soaked very quickly as he made his way back to the road through the tall grass, very careful not to sting himself on the nettles this time. 

His shoes squeaked sometimes as he walked, he noticed. How strange, he thought, and he stopped to inspect them. They hadn’t ever squeaked before this, and it would be awfully annoying if they started to now. The orange cat pounced right onto his foot, biting his shoelace. 

”Wha- kitten!? Why are you out in the rain, you should wait inside for the sun to come out!” Kageyama tried to step away from the cat without accidentally stepping on its tail as it jumped around him, pulling at his shoelace. ”H-hey, where’s your home, kitten?” It looked up at him with its big pale eyes, and gave him a small little peep, hardly audible over the smatter of rain. Kageyama scratched his head, unsure of what to do. ”I guess you can follow me for a little bit… but then it’s best if we part ways, ok? I don’t know if kittens can catch colds, but let's be safe.”

The cat did follow him, with a surprising spring in its step. He wondered how it wasn’t bothered by being wet - he thought for certain that cats hated that. Then again, cats also didn’t usually like being around him, so maybe this cat was just peculiar. 

”You’re very strange, Kitten… you remind me of Hinata.” He said to it as it strolled by his side. ”But most things do right now… I already miss him.” He kicked a rock in his path, and it landed in a puddle with a splash. The cat jumped after it into the puddle, soaking its legs completely. Kageyama snorted. ”He is pretty dumb, too… but he would say some interesting things sometimes…” Kageyama watched his feet as he walked, sinking into deeper thought. 

_”But, if it was you who cursed yourself somehow, couldn’t that one thing to break the curse be with you, too?”_

Spells were complicated, and curses even more-so. Especially when he was uncertain how he had managed to conjure it, too… it was so long ago, many years now… he closed his eyes, trying to recall the moment. 

He saw himself, standing on the crispy leaves rimmed with frost, fallen from the dark bare branches of the trees around him. It was cold, and he was lost. He remembered the chill in his lungs and the ache in his legs… how empty he felt. Crushed. Abandoned… Kageyama shivered, the mere memory made him feel just as cold and abandoned as he had back then. He remembered the snow that began to fall around him, slowly falling to the frozen ground. He had barely noticed when it had begun to snow, until the forest floor was dusted white. 

Something cold had gripped him there, in the forest. A curse that clung to his heart - that he still carried, to this moment. The snow didn’t stop falling that whole winter. And when spring came, it didn’t stop raining either. The rest was history. 

Loneliness was such a horrible thing, when forced upon you. 

The cat pawed at Kageyama’s leg, pulling him back to the muddy road. He hadn’t noticed that he had stopped walking. 

”Sorry, Kitten… let's keep going…” Kageyama kept pondering, however. It still felt like the most sensible thing was to look for a magical source of light to break the curse. A warm ray of sunlight, that’s what he needed. 

Kageyama and Kitten sat down under a tree to pause for breakfast. Kageyama shared some of his sandwich with Kitten, who wolfed it up at an incredible speed. It amused Kageyama, that the cat and Hinata had similar appetite, too. 

”This might be where we part ways, Kitten… your little legs must be tired - you take so many steps in my single step… or, maybe even more, because you have four legs…” Kitten jumped up into Kageyama’s lap and pressed close to him, undoubtedly warming itself up. Kageyama sighed. 

_”They’re not gone. There’s still daylight every day, and every night the moon and the stars shine in the sky, behind the clouds. They’re still there.”_

That much was true, Kageyama supposed. The sun was still there - or else it would be pitch black outside, wouldn’t it… but that was almost even more frustrating. Kageyama glared at the clouds, as if that would make any difference. 

”If only I could just blow the clouds away, Kitten… but I don’t think I can do something like that.” Kitten didn’t respond, it had fallen asleep right there on Kageyama’s lap. Kageyama stroked its wet fur and felt rather soothed, but there was a great annoyance still gnawing at him. ”This is why it feels so impossible to solve… doing something as extraordinary as clearing the skies, nobody could do that.” 

The cat didn’t argue with him, nor did it agree with him. Kageyama didn’t mind though, he appreciated that it was such a good listener. 

”Hinata said I could break it though… the curse, I mean… but…” he tapped his chin, thinking back on the moment they shared in the garden, repotting plants. Hinata had calmed him down significantly in that moment, not just with his words, but by his kind touch against his chest. Kageyama splayed his palm over it, feeling its steady rise and fall as he breathed. If he held his hand very very still, he could feel his heartbeat against his palm, too. ”… I wonder if he meant that I could break it from inside…” 

_”I think you should be selfish, if you want to.”_

He contemplated this, too, for a long while. Kitten eventually woke up, stretching its legs and licking its dirty fur clean. 

”I think I’ve just realized something… I don’t think this is about rain and sunlight, Kitten…” Kageyama said, after sitting in silence for so long. ”I think… I think I may be an idiot.” Kitten looked up at him, tongue sticking out of its little mouth. ”I really must go now. I need to go back the way I came. Thank you very much for your company, Kitten, you’ve been very kind and helpful. Goodbye.” He stood up, and Kitten continued to stare at him with those big eyes as he began to walk away. He could feel its eyes boring into his neck, like piercing arrows. 

”Agh, fine!” He yelled in irritation. ”You’re just as persistent as that dumbass Hinata! Come here, then!” 

Kitten leapt out from below the tree and sprinted towards Kageyama, chirping with every leap. He picked up its little light body and held it close and tight to his chest. 

”We have to skip out on the umbrella, Kitten. We’re running back, so we make it before it gets dark again. Sit tight, please.” 

On his mind was Hinata’s voice, telling him with such certainty and kindness; 

_”I’ll always be here.”_

The road would always be there, to help him move forward. But, if he ever found himself lost, then he hoped it would be there to help him find his way back home again, too. 

◊

He had been running for ages, now. He knew he should feel tired, that his legs should be giving in underneath him, but the beating of his heart was so loud and fierce it kept his body in rhythm. Water splashed around his feet, rain smattered right into his face. But right now, the rain didn’t bother him at all. 

Kitten was still clutched to his chest, safe and warm and dry under his coat. He didn’t care about its dirty fur making his white pretty shirt unclean, either. It was simply trivial. 

Unfortunately, you can only run so far as your body can hold you. The wet dirt under his feet was slippery, and he decided to slow down when his foot dangerously slid in the mud. But once slowing down a little, he seemed to _only_ slow down until he came to a full stop, panting and wheezing for air. Looking around, he realized he didn’t know exactly how far he had left to go. Kitten climbed up from under his coat and up onto his shoulder as Kageyama leant forward, supporting himself with his hands on his knees. His pants were completely soaked, too, even if the rain now was light and hardly noticeable to Kageyama. 

Kitten squeaked above him, and he followed its gaze as it stared at a few crows, dancing through the air together above the high oak trees. He wiped the rain away from his eyes, and saw a wooden bridge further ahead. 

”W-we’re so close, Kitten!!” He stood up tall, trying to steady his breath. ”We’re almost back- hey!” Kitten leapt off his shoulder onto the ground and sprinted ahead. Kageyama knew he should feel tired, knew that he _was_ tired, but his legs carried him as though he was air anyway. Following the springy jumps of the orange cat, Hinata’s home eventually came into view again. It looked just like how he left it, as if no time had passed at all. As if he had simply gone to the store, and just came back. 

He decided to not care about hospitality and went around the house, thinking that Hinata must be in the garden and there simply was no point in knocking when he knew Hinata wasn’t inside. 

And he was right. There, in the garden, stood Hinata. His back turned, his bright orange hair damp, his face turned to the light grey sky, watching the big, sparse drops of rain falling around them, gently dripping onto his freckled face. 

”H-Hinata!” Kageyama called, still slightly out of breath from running. Hinata whipped around, frightened by his loud shout, and stared in disbelief at Kageyama as though he was a ghost. Kageyama opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came. He stumbled over his own mind - there was so much he wanted to tell Hinata, but those brown eyes blew every word out of him. 

”Kageyama?” Hinata shook his head, bewildered by Kageyama's presence. He seemed to want to smile, but was too confused to do so. ”What are you- shouldn’t you be far away by now… and you’re completely soaked-” 

”I was wrong!” Kageyama cut through. ”And- and you were right!”

”Wh- about what?” Hinata looked surprised, and took a tentative step towards him his eyes bright and clear. Warmth seemed to pool around him, in that peculiar way that was unique to Hinata. 

”You said to me, that I could break my curse from within. That is what you meant, right?” Hinata nodded, and shifted a bit on his feet, as if he was restless. ”I didn’t understand what you meant at first… I always thought that it was the clouds above me that had me pushing people away, and that it was the warmth of the sun that I sought, to break apart from this spell… That if I could rid myself of the clouds shielding the sun, I could finally be free… but I was wrong, and you were right.”

Hinata didn’t break his gaze away from him for even a moment. He radiated with something exciting, something bright, a silent call of some kind. Kageyama wanted to soak up every part of it, to answer the call, but for the moment he put it out of his mind. He wanted to explain, first. 

”I thought I had to choose to stay away from people. That keeping people at arms length was the best solution for everyone, and that eventually I would find a way to break this spell… but I don’t think it’s the answer. I think my h-heart wants to let people in. Wants to be better. Wants to be loved and cared for, and to love and care about other people… I want to let you in, Hinata, just like you did for me.”

Hinata balled his hands into fists, and a warm red color dusted his freckled cheeks. His expression was something fragile, but welling with delight. 

”You were there the entire time, and I didn’t think I deserved it… but, if I could, then…” he took a deep breath. ”Please, let me be selfish, and stay here with you.”

Hinata’s face crumbled into a smile, just as bright as last time Kageyama saw it, but it felt so much more brilliant. 

”Ka-ge-ya-ma!!” Hinata took three big leaps and jumped right into Kageyama’s embrace, who caught him clumsily into a tight, rib-crushing hug, unable to see anything but Hinata’s bright orange hair. He smelled like dirt and flowers and fruity tea - just like home. 

The warmth of Hinata’s body flowed right through Kageyama’s wet clothes, right through his skin, and warmed him up all the way through. He could feel Hinata’s smile against his cheek bleed right into his own face, breaking into a wobbly, but loving smile. 

”You’re such an idiot,” Hinata spoke right into his ear, his voice impossibly fond. 

”You too,” said Kageyama, equally as fond. He felt so warm and comfortable, even if his clothes were wet and clinging to him, and his legs were tired from running and his stomach aching with hunger, because his heart was full of bright, colorful emotions, surging as if in celebration. He was sure it was love. 

When his grip of Hinata slowly loosened and he opened his eyes, Hinata was glowing before him. His eyes shone more brilliantly than he had ever seen before, shimmering with specks of gold behind his orange eyelashes, and the little droplets of rain on his skin glistened and sparkled like dusted crystals. It was as if a light shone from deep within him, fighting to keep up with the blinding smile on his face. Kageyama placed his hand on his cheeks, hardly believing that he could be so close to Hinata, and hug him like this, and love him without a trace of fear within himself. 

”Hinata… you’re glowing.” Hinata burned red under Kageyama’s pale hands, his smile unfading. Laughter bubbled out of his throat, and Kageyama began to wonder if sound itself could gleam.

”You too… your eyes are so blue, with the sun shining onto your face like this…” 

He put a gentle hand on Kageyama’s cheek and guided his gaze to the horizon. The little raindrops that fell around them were pure gold, glowing just like Hinata, like thousands of small candle-lights falling from the sky. In the distant heavens, hanging low over the horizon, a warm light came shining down towards them. He stood in awe, staring into the burning warmth. It was sunlight, red and warm sunlight from a setting sun. Kageyama’s chest felt unbelievably tight, as though his heart was swelling with delight, bursting at the seams in the most wonderful way. 

”It’ll rise again tomorrow too, I’ll bet my life on that… if you want, I can wake you up early, so we can watch it together,” Hinata wrapped his arms neatly around Kageyama’s body, slotting around him perfectly, as if made to hold him. 

He could feel the corners of his eyes prick with tears, that slowly rolled down over his cheeks to mix with the rain still gently falling. Hinata chuckled as he wiped Kageyama’s cheek with his thumb - he was sure that dirt from Hinata’s hand was smeared onto his skin. He loved it, still. He always had. 

”Yeah… I think I would like that.” 

Hinata beamed at him, and opened his mouth to speak, but only a squeak came out. They both blinked in surprise and turned their attention to the ground, where a very soaked and very orange cat sat, chirping at them. 

”Wha- who is this!” Hinata sang with delight. 

”Oh, it’s Kitten… I brought it with me, it seem to like me,” he said as it leant against his leg, leaving wet orange fur glued to his pants. 

”You- you named it ’Kitten’?” Hinata laughed and picked it up, eyes full of love for the little thing. 

”I think it’s a good name…” 

”You know what… I think so too,” Hinata stroked its tousled wet fur with careful hands, bringing out the loudest purr. ”We’ll see what Juliette thinks of this little rascal, maybe they’ll be friends…! Let's get you both inside, you’re soaked.” 

Kageyama looked up at the sky, and was met with a beautiful lilac color. He smiled, thinking of the vivid blue he would see tomorrow, and maybe even the vivid pink of a sunset. He was sure there would be more rain to come, but… he didn’t feel so scared anymore. He wasn't alone. 

”Kageyama… does this count as a win for me?” 

Kageyama sighed, but not without joy. ”Why not… how many wins do you have now, then?”

Hinata beamed at him. ”103 wins, against your 102, so I’m in the lead at last!”

”Hmm, but it’ll be even soon, cause today I’m so hungry I could eat more than you.” 

”No way, Kageyama! There’s no way!” 

They laughed and bickered all the way inside Hinata's home - _their_ home - as the last warming sun-rays on their backs reassuring them that this was a warmth that would stay, even as the sun slipped behind the trees on the horizon. It kissed the clouds goodnight with the most vivid and loving sunset, with a promise of many more days to come. 

◊ ◊ ◊

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go!!! My whole fic, in it's (almost) entirety!! 
> 
> I spent two years on and off writing this fic in my spare-time, and it makes me beyond happy to have received such kindness for my writing now that I finally finished it and gathered the courage to share it. I am so grateful!!   
> I will post one final bit of writing, sometime very soon!!! But this is sort of the conclusion to the story, and I really hope you have enjoyed reading it!   
> See you soon!!!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this first chapter! There will be a new chapter every other day, I hope you will enjoy reading it and want to follow the story to the end~


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